61 The Movie Man
by ARtheBard
Summary: The team travels to Miami to track an unsub that is excising the thighs of his victims. Suspecting a cannibal, the team is determined to find him before his next meal consists of one of them!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this story was inspired by a pretty funny autocorrect from a friend (and reader of this crazy AU) whose phone told me she would rather, "…just cook women" instead of watch a soccer match. She meant dinner. She swears. Yeah, autocorrect can suck sometimes. LOL.**

**I was midway through this story when the same friend ended up in the hospital fighting for her life. Not knowing if she would make it or not, I completely lost both the focus and desire to complete this story. Now that she is home and recovering, I finally got around to rediscovering the voice for the piece and have now finished it. Sorry for the delay but real life trumped the AU for a while. Hope y'all enjoy the story.**

**And to that friend…damn glad to still have you around, my friend. The world wouldn't seem right without you in it. This one's for you.**

**-AR**

* * *

Monday morning it is Emily who groans as the alarm goes off. Could it really be just 7 days since she had eagerly awakened on Monday to spend the day with Henry? She is still trying to wake up when JJ pokes her.

"If you let snooze go off I'm never speaking to you again," she grumbles.

Emily chuckles. "Such a sweetheart in the morning."

She smacks off her alarm before it sounds again, kisses JJ's temple and gets up to be ready for the first child that awakes so Jen and the nesters can get a few more minutes of sleep. She may not have been quite so grumpy but the Redskins had the Sunday night game and it went into overtime before they lost. So lack of sleep coupled with the loss will make JJ less than pleasant since she can't have coffee.

"I am in hell," Emily mumbles with a smile as she starts her morning routine.

By the time she is done she can hear Rocky singing over the baby monitor. As she walks out of the room JJ's alarm starts to sound. The blonde smacks the snooze button and puts a pillow on her head. Emily just grins and grabs both monitors so her wife can sleep a little longer.

As she walks towards her daughter's room Emily hears a grunting sound. She starts to step lightly, avoiding the creaks in the floorboards. She peeks in and sees her daughter in the corner of her bed. One hand is on the railing, one is on the headboard. She has a foot against a slat and the other against the headboard. Pulling up with her hands she walks her feet up until she can get a leg over the railing. She then hangs from both hands and drops to the ground. Emily shakes her head.

_"In. Fricking. Credible_," she thinks to herself…proudly.

As Rocky starts to strip off her pajamas Emily steps into the room.

"Aha! Caught ya!"

Rocky jumps in fright. She studies her mama a minute and when she realizes she is not in trouble she grins.

"Love Mama!"

Emily chuckles and picks her up. "I love you, too. I guess we either have to get a top on your crib or it's time for a big girl bed. A lot earlier than I wanted but it will be safer than you playing Queen Kong."

Rocky gives her mama a hug and kiss. "Love Mama."

"You said that already." She kisses Rocky's cheek. "Luckily I love hearing it over and over again. Come on let's get your diaper changed."

She sets Rocky on the changing table as Henry's monitor comes alive.

"Mama! Mommy! Potty!"

Emily looks at her daughter. "Stay here!" She eases to the door. "Go ahead and go potty, Henry."

"'Kay, Mama."

Henry walks out of his room, jumping as the door alarm his mother's usually turn off sounds. Emily smiles at him.

"Sorry, Champ, Rocky woke up first this morning."

Henry just smiles and heads to the bathroom, Alaska right with him. Emily goes back to the changing table and gets Rocky changed. Just as she is about to walk out a zombie appears in the doorway.

No…it's just JJ.

Emily grins. "Isn't Mommy pretty in the morning, Rocky?"

JJ's eyes are barely open, a scowl adorns her face, her hair is mussed (and not in the sexy way Emily loves), and she is scratching her stomach. At Emily's statement, Rocky nods. JJ just grunts. Emily walks over and Rocky reaches for her Mommy. Emily raises an eyebrow.

"Rocky or Henry, Jen?"

JJ looks at her daughter and manages a smile. "Come on, Rock Star."

Rocky gives her Mommy a big hug and kiss. "Love Mommy."

"Love you, too, Honey."

As those two disappear downstairs Emily goes to see to Henry. He looks up at her.

"You go back to work today, Mama?"

Emily nods. "I'm afraid so, Champ. I wish I could just stay here with you instead."

He smiles. "Me, too. Maybe we has another day soon?"

Emily smiles. "I sure hope so, Henry. I sure hope so."

* * *

JJ laughs as Emily drives them to work in the Lexus. "Are you serious? Like a little monkey?"

"Yep. She figured out how to use the angles at the corner to give her the leverage to get up and over the railing. She then hangs there a second and drops to the ground."

"Oh, good grief. Well, we know she gets that ability from her mountain climbing mama and certainly not from me," JJ chuckles. "So, yep, I guess we need to order her a bed."

"Yep. Or turn the crib over and stick her under it like a cage," Emily jokes.

JJ laughs. "And the parent of the year award _doesn't_ go to Emily Prentiss!"

Emily just grins. "I guess now might be a good time to think about moving her to another bedroom. Then we'll just need to figure out how to rearrange the nursery for a second baby."

JJ rubs her stomach. "Yep. So tonight we'll talk to her about what she wants in her room."

"I bet it will be a barn theme," Emily says. "She loves her barn play center."

"Most likely. And we both know you'd rather it be a princess theme so you can get all girly girl."

Emily laughs. "Sadly, I was thinking just that. I never would have liked that as a kid. What in the world is happening to me?"

JJ pats her leg. "You're a mom now, Em. Your brain is warped."

Emily nods in agreement. "Yes, yes it is. For the best, I might add."

JJ nods as they continue the drive to work, hoping for an easy week…but knowing after a holiday it will probably be anything but that.


	2. Chapter 2

When Emily gets off the elevator she turns towards the office she had been using. JJ grins at her.

"So, ready to get back to the bull pen with the rest of us lowly little agents?"

Emily smiles. "I am. I miss being around the energy down there. I'll touch base with Kevin to see what I need to do to get everything re-routed. Probably won't be able to get down there until after lunch."

"Good." JJ leans close. "Still time to have a quickie in there if we need one."

Emily bursts out laughing and just walks away, halfway wondering if the hormonal woman is serious. She has just finished checking email when someone taps on the door and steps in.

"Good morning, Agent Prentiss," Straus says.

Emily smiles. "Good morning, ma'am. Did Rossi make you the turkey tetrazzini he promised with the leftovers?"

The chief smiles. "He did, yes. And it was incredible."

"That's great."

"I just wanted to thank you again for including me in your family celebration. It meant…more than I can express in words. I had a truly lovely time."

Emily nods. "I'm glad you could come and that you had a good time."

"I certainly did. Now, that said," she gets a more stern look on her face and drops a folder on the desk, "your expense report for Alabama is missing your hotel receipt. Get it in. It's late, Agent." She gives Emily a wink and a grin then turns to go.

Emily chuckles. "Yes, ma'am. First thing." As the chief leaves Emily shakes her head. _"Yep, all the little pod people were at the house on Thursday. It could be infested now_."

Amused at her own joke, she gets looking for the errant hotel bill so she can truly put that case behind her.

* * *

At her desk, JJ starts to flip through the mail that she had ignored last Wednesday after making sure none were time sensitive. She smiles as Reid walks up to his own desk.

"Hey, Spence. How's your mom doing?"

Reid smiles and shrugs. "Mostly fine."

"Uh, mostly?" she presses.

"She had an episode while I was there. She became convinced I had been admitted and wasn't allowed to leave. They had to sedate her. When she woke up she didn't remember the incident," he explains.

"Oh, Spence, I'm so sorry."

He shrugs. "It happens. Wasn't the worst episode she ever had and other than that we had some good talks. She still thinks this job is too sad for me."

JJ grins. "I can agree with that."

"How was the big day at Chateau Prentiss?"

"It was great. Gerald and Elizabeth surprised us. When Morgan's mother and sister arrived Rocky went streaking naked down the hallway. It was perfect."

Reid starts laughing. "Still doing the striptease, eh?"

"Oh, yeah. And Emily found out today how she gets out of her crib." She tells him what had been discovered. "Seems like Emily's love of climbing is an inherited trait."

"Not to mention her nerdling mind. That was pretty clever thinking," Reid points out.

JJ nods. "True. I guess we can- -"

Her statement breaks of as she stares at the letter from HR that she has just opened. Reid glances up and sees the stunned look on her face. He frowns.

"Jayje? You okay?"

JJ chuckles nervously. "Uh, I don't know. Turns out I have defaulted on a student loan for my undergraduate degree."

Now Reid is confused. "I thought you had a full ride?"

"I did. This is for the degree I got at Arizona State 5 years ago."

Reid's eyebrows go up as he realizes what has happened. "Oh! Someone used your identity for a degree!"

"Apparently. I have to meet with HR this morning to discuss this. This is just a bunch of policy bullshit reminding me the consequences of having outstanding debt and not repaying it. Garnished wages, loss of security clearance, etc. This is such a nightmare."

"Uh, don't you and Emily have a lawyer or something that could help take care of it?"

JJ sits up a bit straighter. "Um, actually, yeah, we do."

He grins. "Good. Then it is as good as dealt with. Stop frowning: it will give the nesters wrinkles."

JJ laughs at the now familiar warning. "Thanks, Spence." She stands. "Let me go tell Hotch even though he probably already knows."

She takes the paper and goes up to her boss' office. He glances up as she taps on the door. He grins.

"Go Sun Devils."

JJ rolls her eyes. "Yeah, right. So you were notified?"

Hotch gestures to one of the chairs and she sits down. "Of course. As your superior I had to know you could come under sanctions for this. What's the plan?"

"I'll call our lawyer and let him deal with it. After I meet with HR and get all the information they have I can pass that on, too."

"Okay. I'll let HR know you'll be there and that I am confident you will be able to show this is a case of stolen identity."

"Most definitely. Unless it turns out the degree was earned online it shouldn't take long to prove that I wasn't enrolled at ASU." She stands. "I'm going to go down to Emily's office to make this call. I may have to answer questions I don't want anyone to hear."

Hotch nods. "Of course. Good luck."

"Thanks, Hotch."

JJ makes her way down to the office Emily is using. She walks in and sees her wife on the phone so she closes the door and sits down in one of the visitors chairs and listens in.

"Thanks, Kevin. If you can, great. If not Hotch will understand. Until the phone can be switched I should be fine here." She listens a second. "Right. Thanks again." She hangs up. "Computer just needs to be moved but the phone line re-route probably can't be done today."

"Not surprising right after a holiday. So, question for you: does our lawyer deal with identity theft issues?"

Emily raises an eyebrow. "Of course. Well, I mean, someone in his firm will. What's happened?"

JJ hands her the letter from HR. "Got another degree only this time I paid out of pocket and then defaulted on the loan."

Emily grins. "Naughty girl."

JJ laughs. "Right. I'm calling from here in case he needs private info."

Emily nods and starts on a case file she had found in her inbox that morning. She tunes out her wife knowing the law firm will do more to find the jerk fast than the FBI will. When JJ hangs up, Emily turns her attention back to the younger woman.

"He said they should have the person tracked down in about 24 hours. As soon as they locate them they will file charges in that state and in Arizona if they are somewhere else."

"Good."

"They've also extended the alert on my Social Security Number. They are basically going to run a deep financial background on me to make sure this is my only defaulted or defaulting loan. So now it's not just the use of it in the future that will cause an alert but anything old will, too."

Emily nods. "Excellent. Good luck with HR."

JJ stands. "Thanks. See you at the Monday meeting."

Emily nods and goes back to her case file as JJ leaves.

* * *

At 5 minutes to 10 Emily's cell phone rings. She recognizes the number for their lawyer and wonders why she is being called.

"This is Emily Prentiss," she answers.

"Emily, Clarence Butler. I was assigned to help Jennifer Prentiss with the identity theft issue."

"Hi, thank you for getting on this so quickly."

"I tried to reach her but she didn't answer and I need to confirm a few things before I continue with the case."

"She is meeting with HR right now. I can try to help you."

"Thank you. Tell me, does she know an Amy Jareau."

Emily starts. "Uh, yes. Amy is…uh, was her sister. She died at 16."

"Ah, that explains it. She has several degrees, too. Looks like a ring that got several names from the same hospital database."

"Oh, shit. She also has a brother Mark. Her parents are Sandra and Alan. Check them all."

"We will. Do you know when we may be able to reach Jennifer?"

Emily glances at her watch. "We have a meeting right about now. I'll have her call you when it's over."

"That would be great. Thank you, Agent Prentiss."

"No problem, Clarence. I appreciate the call and your diligence in this matter." She hangs up and shakes her head. "Son of a bitch," she mutters as she grabs her things and goes to the round table room for their Monday meeting.

* * *

Emily walks in and sees everyone but JJ is already there. "Sorry, lawyer called." She takes her seat. "Uh, Jen?"

Hotch rolls his eyes. "Probably still with HR. She can catch up when she gets here. So, up first, Prentiss did Straus get with you about your expense report?"

"Yes, sir. Already turned back in. Sorry about that."

Hotch nods. "Good. Morgan, how is that series of home invasions looking?"

"Honestly, I just don't think they are related. It's a weird spike for that city but- -" he breaks off as JJ hurries in.

"Sorry!"

Hotch gives her a smile. "So are you still cleared to attend this meeting?"

JJ rolls her eyes. "Yes. For now, at least. They had to read me all the official b.s. before even letting me speak. They are in touch with my lawyer and hopefully I'll be vindicated soon. If not, well, I can just transfer to a less important position like unit chief or something," she finishes with a wink.

Everyone, including Hotch, chuckles. He nods. "Right. I'll remember that during your end of year review. So, Morgan, you were saying?"

Morgan continues to explain that though there is an unusual spike in home invasions in Boston they don't seem to be the work of the same person or crew. More like a symptom of more people out of work looking to steal a dime rather than earn it. One by one the team runs down opens on their desks and where they stand on closing them out. When Hotch gets around to Emily he grins.

"Since you were off last week I can assume you're caught up."

She nods. "As caught up as I can be."

Garcia grins. "Have no fear, Princess," she tosses 10 folders to Emily, "this should keep you busy a day or two."

Emily sighs. "At least. Ugh. My desk was so nice and clean."

Everyone nods understandingly. Garcia then doles out new cases to everyone else. She has one last one she offers to Hotch.

"I thought I would show you this, Bossman. A series of murders in the southern Florida area. Heads found in Miami, the bodies found around Lake Okeechobee."

He frowns and takes the folder. "Who is handling it?"

"Florida Department of Law Enforcement Criminal Investigation and Forensic Division," she replies.

"So it's not two different local precincts?"

"No, sir. They passed it off to the state since the dump sites are about an hour and half from each other. Additionally, the only bodies they could i.d. were 6 homeless vets. The rest of the bodies are still John Doe's."

"All men?"

"Yes, sir, and, um, all had their, uh, thighs cut off."

Rossi frowns. "Their thighs?"

Garcia nods. "Perfectly excised down to the bone."

Rossi looks at Hotch. "Cannibal?"

Hotch nods. "Most likely."

"Ew! Okay, and they haven't called us in but my computer program flagged them as the reports were uploaded to the national database to look for like crimes," Garcia finishes.

"Good work, Garcia. I'll take a look at it." He looks at the profilers. "If I can get an invite for the team plan to hit Miami. If I can only arrange a consult Rossi and Prentiss you're up."

Rossi and Emily nod. Garcia raises a finger and points to each agent in turn.

"Did you ALL hear that? Rossi and Prentiss ONLY! I swear if one of you tries to sneak out of here before Hotch says to I will do such a thing your GRANDKIDS won't be able to fly? Understood?"

She ends, staring directly at Reid. The genius nods nervously. Everyone else also quickly agrees, knowing the computer whiz is not kidding.

* * *

Just before noon, JJ walks into Emily's office and closes the door. Even a non-profiler would see the blonde is shaken.

"What's wrong?" Emily asks immediately.

"Clarence Butler called back. Three people used Amy's info to get degrees, another for a house, and yet another for a car."

"I see. What about you and Mark?"

"Mark hasn't been used. For me I have another degree from USC."

Emily gives her a smile. "At least you're well educated."

JJ gives a slight chuckle. "Yeah." She gets quiet and Emily lets her gather her thoughts. "She never had a chance for any of that, Em. She never even graduated high school. Never had her first car. Never bought a house. Fuck, she never even had a first apartment. But five people have used her information to get things she never had; things she cheated herself out of. I am so…so angry right now and I don't know who I angriest with: Amy or the jerks that lived her life."

"I can bet I know," Emily says softly.

JJ looks up and meets compassionate brown eyes. "I hate when it invades unexpectedly."

"I know. Look…see if Hotch will let you take the day."

JJ shakes her head. "No. No, I'll just sit home and brood about it; about her. Better I lose myself in trying to help others get the answers it took me over 20 years to get." She glances at her watch. "I think I'm going to go ahead to lunch. You wanna come?"

Emily nods. "Sure. Let me save this and get my purse."

JJ just nods but doesn't make a move. Emily gets up and goes around to squat in front of her wife.

"I am sorry, Jennifer. I should have thought to protect her memory sooner. You shouldn't have found out this way."

JJ strokes a hand down her wife's cheek. "No apology needed from you, Em. I know this shit happens all the time and didn't think of it, either. I'm just going to blame hormones as the reason it's got me so torn up."

Emily smiles and turns her head to kiss the hand on her cheek. "Okay. But if you need to talk it out or yell it out later I'm here for you."

"I know. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Emily sees something settling in the stormy blue eyes. She stands and pulls JJ up.

"Go get your purse. See if Pen wants to join us. Something tells me she can get you thinking about anything other than stolen identities."

JJ grins. "Most likely. See you at the elevator."

Emily nods and gets her desk cleared off enough that she can walk away from it. By the time she steps into the hallway, Garcia is approaching in her coat. The analyst loops her arms through Emily's.

"So, why did JJ sound so sad?" Emily gives her the quick version. Garcia sighs. "My poor little queen. I'll get her mind off those creeps."

"I knew you could."

And by the time they get back from the deli JJ is back to normal thanks to her wife and best friend. That's what family is for.

* * *

That night after dinner, while Henry builds a city to destroy, JJ and Emily sit down with Rocky to look at bedroom catalogs. The little girl sits in her Mama's lap as JJ flips through the magazine. Emily runs a hand through the curly, dark locks of their daughter.

"Since you have decided to start climbing out of bed it's time to get you a big girl bed. And in doing that, it's time for a new bedroom. Won't that be cool?"

Rocky nods. "Coo', Mama."

"So, let's look at some of these pictures Mommy shows you and you can tell us what you like. Okay?"

Rocky just nods and looks at the beds JJ is showing her. Her eyes get wide with wonder.

"Oooo!" she coos.

"See one you like, Rocky?" JJ asks.

She reaches out and surprises both her mothers when she pats the picture of a pink racecar bed. She smiles up at JJ.

"Like Ree!"

JJ smiles. "Uh, yes, it's like Henry's. But are you sure that's what you want?"

Rocky nods and pats it again. "Like Ree, Mommy!"

Emily and JJ exchange a look. Emily kisses her head.

"Then a racecar it is, sweet girl. Now, let's take a look at wall decorations and furniture," Emily says and smiles at JJ.

JJ turns to furniture first. Rocky falls in love with a set that features big flowers and butterflies. When they start looking at wall decorations and accent pieces the mothers are finally proven right when Rocky chooses a cow-shaped toddler recliner, a rug that doubles as a farm play mat, and wall decals with all sorts of barn animals and a big red barn. JJ just shakes her head.

"So, a race car in a field of flowers in the middle of farm." She leans over and kisses Rocky's cheek. "It's perfect, Rock Star."

Rocky claps her hands and giggles. JJ goes upstairs to order the items that she had circled as Emily gets on the floor to play with the kids a little longer before bedtime.

Yep, another happy night in Chateau Prentiss.


	3. Chapter 3

As Emily and JJ get off the elevator the next morning Hotch meets them. "Prentiss, get with Rossi. FDLE wouldn't invite us all down until we can show them how profiling can help them track the unsub."

Emily sighs. "Yeah, I packed some spring clothes in case that happened. What time do we leave?"

"Ten. I took the liberty of moving your firearm requal to 9:15. I'd rather you not go unarmed but if you don't pass don't worry about it. Your health is more important."

"I can pass, Hotch. Promise."

"Good. I'll have your sidearm and clutch piece ready then. And your phone and docking station were switched back last night by the overnight crew. If you want, I can get Morgan and Reid to move your stuff back to your desk for you."

"Thanks. I know they'd love to," she says with a grin.

"Yeah, I bet," he chuckles as he walks off.

"Wonder why he didn't ask me to move your stuff," JJ ponders.

"My guess is Reid and Morgan got into a prank war of some sort and pissed Hotch off," Emily answers as they walk into the bullpen.

JJ starts to laugh. "You know, you're probably right."

* * *

At 9:45 Emily walks into Hotch's office and gives him the clearance from the range officer. He takes it and looks it over, nodding.

"Almost as good as your yearly requal."

Emily grins. "And my wrist was hurt that time. Imagine if I can show up completely healthy for one of these things."

"Then you'll give JJ a run for her money."

"Not if I'm smart," Emily replies with a wink.

Hotch laughs. "Good point." He hands her both guns. "You ready to go?"

"Just need to grab my bags," she says as she settles her sidearm onto her hip, feeling like she is reattaching a limb. "Also need to see if any mail came in that needs attention. Otherwise I'll just take it and deal with it at the hotel tonight."

"Good. I've emailed you full details as well as a few things Garcia dug up late yesterday."

"Great. I love to read about horrible murders on planes," she jokes.

He grins. "Don't we all. Call me if you need anything."

"Will do. See you later, Hotch."

She starts out the door but Hotch call out to her.

"Oh, Prentiss, I forgot to ask: which bed?"

Emily smiles proudly. "A pink race car so it is like Henry's."

"Her choice?"

Emily nods. "Her choice."

Hotch nods. "That's wonderful."

Emily smiles and goes to get her things. Soon she is settled into Rossi's passenger seat as they drive to Dulles for the flight down to Miami.

* * *

Rossi offers his hand to the Asian gentleman that meets him in the FDLE office in Miami.

"Detective Jim Lee?"

"Yes. And no need to ask who you are. I've been to a few of your talks, Agent Rossi. Wish I was talking to you about your old cases not the one that has haunted me for over a year now." He glances around and leans closer. "I swear I asked to have you called in at least to help us with a consult 8 months ago but the brass was sure we could find this guy. Truth is, no one is looking for these victims so there is no rush to solve this. My worry has always been he will escalate either to killing more than one person a month or start going after people the bosses _will_ care about. And then it is my ass hung out to dry because I didn't stop him."

Rossi nods. "Understood. This is SSA Emily Prentiss. We'd like to take a look at everything you have for the last 14 months."

"Just those 14?" Lee confirms.

Emily raises an eyebrow. "There are more than 14?"

"Agents, we have bodies missing thighs going back 23 months. One a month for almost 2 years. We find a body then a head or vice versa. No set day of the week or day of the month. No clue as to what causes him to kill when he does."

Emily looks at Rossi, "When it's time to shop for his next meal."

Rossi nods. "Probably."

Lee blanches. "Wait a second…are you saying…he eats them?"

"To take such care to excise the meat of the thigh so completely tells us he needs it for something. It could be something else but the probability that it's cannibalism is pretty high," Emily explains.

Lee runs a hand through his spiky, salt and pepper hair. "Oh that is so not what we were thinking."

"What is your theory?" Rossi asks.

"Trophies. Some sort of sick trophies."

Emily nods. "In some ways they are. And keep in mind, we could be wrong. That's why we want to look at everything you have, visit the dump sites, and ask a few questions to the witnesses you've talked to. If we can narrow down his hunting ground and his way of choosing victims we can figure out what he is and then who he is."

Lee nods. "Okay. My bosses aren't real happy you are here but anything I can do I will."

"What do we need to do to get our whole team down here?" Rossi asks.

"If you can show my captain two things it will help. The first is show him you're not just trying to steal our glory. It's not your way, I know that. He doesn't. And second, just give us a sense of progressing forward. If he can see something other than the nothing we have so far he'll step back and let you help without interference."

Rossi nods. "We can definitely do the first. The second, well, that's what Prentiss and I are here to try to do."

"Then let me show you where I have everything on this guy. A lot of it is boxed but I have two whiteboards for you and can get more if you need them."

"With 23 victims we probably will," Emily warns him.

As they walk into a conference room, Lee gestures with his hand. "Here it is. I have to go meet with the D.A. regarding another case. Anything you need just ask anyone around and they'll help you out."

Rossi nods and shakes his hand. "Thanks. We'll get cracking. Keep your fingers crossed for us."

"I'll keep all 10 crossed. Good luck, Agents."

Rossi and Emily nod. After he leaves, Emily closes the door and looks at the 23 boxes on the table.

"One box per victim. Won't be a lot to go through."

"Nope," Rossi agrees. "Our best info is out in the streets. But let's get these boards put together so we can see who we're trying to get justice for."

"Sounds good to me."

Rossi grabs the box for Victim 1 as Emily grabs Victim 2. Time to start seeing if they really could help bring this unsub to justice.

* * *

It takes the agents about 20 minutes to set up the murder boards the way they want them. Emily studies the thigh of victim 17. His body had shown the least decomposition and predator activity. She looks at Rossi.

"You're a hunter, right?" Rossi nods. "Aren't you supposed to disembowel what you kill so the organs don't contaminate the meat? None of these men have been gutted that way."

Rossi hitches a leg up on the edge of the table. "If he excises the thigh right after death he wouldn't run that risk."

Emily nods. "Ah. Okay. So cannibalism is still in play."

"Yep. Here's my thought. These guys are all homeless. That usually means drug or alcohol abuse. But look at the bodies. Sure, he probably cleans them. But they all look sort of healthy. Does he keep them for a time to make sure they are clean and sober? And if so, why no ligature marks or signs of having been drugged?"

Emily blows out a breath. "Good questions. Let's start looking at what the detectives found out." She turns and looks over her shoulder at the man standing in the doorway. "Unless you have something to add, Captain?" she says, guessing who he is."

The man stiffens in embarrassment. He had no idea the agents knew he was there but the way Rossi turns to look tells him they were both well aware of his presence. He recovers a bit and steps farther into the room.

"Captain Rex Arrington," he says extending his hand to both agents. "I have to say, I did some research into you all after your boss called. You have an impressive record. You take over a lot of cases for people."

Rossi shakes his hand and nods. "Dave Rossi. This is Emily Prentiss. We are proud of our record." He gestures to the walls. "These kinds of cases are rare. We've studied guys like this all over the country so your detectives don't have to. They are able to concentrate on the sorts of killers you see everyday. But when the case is over, it's all yours. We'll be here to help with the trial, we'll work closely with the detective since he knows the area. It's a team effort and you all get the trophy in the end," Rossi assures him.

Arrington studies him a moment. "Kind of what I heard. I hate ceding state responsibility to the government. You can imagine we've had issues with DEA especially screwing up our operations."

Emily nods. "I believe it. I promise you: you will be fully apprised of all we are doing and hopefully we'll eliminate a lot of the scut work. If we can come up with the profile of this particular hunter then together we can stop him before victim 24 and definitely before he goes after more prominent targets that will draw media attention."

Arrington sighs. "You think he will? Go after other targets?"

"It would be a natural progression as he devolves or as the thrill of killing lost members of society wanes," Emily confirms.

"Lee asked me to call you in last year. I have a feeling you're going to make me regret not listening to him," Arrington admits.

"Not our goal," Rossi assures him. "All that matters is that we're here now and we'll do our best to help you track this unsub down."

"Okay. Get me what you can at the end of the day. If I like what I see I'll call your Chief Hotchner and tell him to bring the rest of you down."

Rossi nods. "Thank you."

Arrington just nods and leaves. Rossi walks over and closes the door. He raises an eyebrow at Emily.

"Impressions?"

"Half of him is hoping we'll prove to be unnecessary like he thought; half of him is hoping we can find this guy before it torpedoes his career."

Rossi grins. "My thoughts, too. This should be ever so much fun."

Emily grins. "As if mutilated bodies weren't a good time all their own."

Rossi laughs. The two agents start at opposite ends of the murder boards and start to peel through the layers of each murder, looking for things Garcia can search for to help them figure out how these men were chosen.

It is close to 6 when Emily sets the last file down. She rubs her eyes and starts to scan her notes. As Rossi finishes his final case he sits down across the table from her.

"Definitely same guy, even though the pictures had pointed to that," he begins.

"Killer is clean, precise, exact. Each thigh, though a different length, is removed starting ¾ of an inch above the knee and ending 1" below the pelvic juncture. Perfect circles around the legs."

"Evidence of three knives used to help him make the cuts. No signs the victims were awake for it, thank God, but no signs they were drugged either."

Emily nods and grabs her note pad again. "Which is weird. 19 of the autopsies noted the men had healing injection points in their arms."

Rossi nods. "Right where you'd get a shot."

Emily raises an eyebrow. "Or where you'd get blood drawn. What if…if the killer makes these guys get blood tests before he kills them? Or takes them himself? I mean think about it: he wouldn't want meat contaminated with drugs or worse? AIDS, HIV, Hepatitus."

Rossi sits up, liking that thought. "Eleven of these guys are veterans. Instinct would send them to the V.A. for that test."

"And others would use free clinics near their haunts," Emily finishes and grabs her laptop. She starts an email to Garcia. "I'll have Garcia run the VA records to see if the 11 got blood tests or anything else the month before they were found dead. The John Does will be tougher."

"Have her look into the free clinics records for any male who has had blood tests done since the month before the first victim was found."

Emily grins. "She is so going to hate us if we give her something that broad to hack."

"True." Rossi thinks a second. "Limit it to men having the full run of tests on the blood. If he is eating them it's like you said, he would not want to get sick or killed. He'd want to know everything they could possibly get. He may have even had to pay for the extra battery of tests."

"Good point," Emily says, typing away. "That should help her." She sends the email and sits back. "So, he approaches them, probably quizzes them a bit to gauge their health. How does he convince them to take the blood test? How does he get them to go with him seemingly with no fight?"

Rossi thinks a second. "A lot of guys will be willing to work. What if he's promising them a job but only if they are clean? He gets them to take the blood test, takes them to his place, maybe even lets them get comfortable a couple days. Then when they least expect it he slits their throat, chops the head off when they die, takes the thigh, then dumps them."

Emily slowly nods. "I can see that. But he wouldn't want that guy on the street talking about blood tests and jobs. He would take them right away. So the question is, what happens to those who fail the blood test?"

Rossi's eyes widen. "Good question. There are other bodies for this guy."

"Most likely. And that could explain why the kill pattern is so unstable. He might have to capture 2 or 3 guys before getting the right donor, so to speak."

"Garcia is going to be sending us a very long list from each location."

Emily nods. "Yep."

"Okay, Devil's Advocate on that thought: why do some guys show the needle mark and others don't?"

Emily considers it a minute. "If the blood diseases were negative, but the guy had a drug in his system- -"

"- -he might hold them long enough to let the drug work itself out. But again, no ligatures."

"But if he really does have a job for them they just think a good Samaritan is helping them out. Then when they are in the clear it's dinner time," Emily concludes.

Rossi nods. The agents are silent a moment before Rossi chuckles.

"If he's not a cannibal we're so far off a profile Arrington will never trust us."

Emily laughs. "Very true." She glances at her watch. "Let's call it a night. Tomorrow we can eat breakfast and start going out to the areas where the homeless congregate. And when Garcia gets us lists of clinics that fit our parameters we can visit them to see if they remember anything. If all goes well, we can get Arrington to okay the team coming down tomorrow afternoon."

"Sounds good to me."

As the agents start to gather the files they want to review again later, Arrington comes into the room.

"So, what do you know so far?"

Emily and Rossi spend 10 minutes explaining their theories, telling him what they have Garcia searching, and what their plans for the next day entail. By the time they are done they can see he is impressed.

"You all…figured all that out today?"

"It's what our theory for today is. Tomorrow we test the theory. If it doesn't pan out we're back to square one," Rossi admits.

Arrington gives Rossi a hard stare. "That's a pretty brave admission considering I'm not sure I really want you here."

Rossi stands. "It's the truth. We don't come in and magically solve the case. We've been in cities upwards of 2 weeks at times. And sometimes we leave with no resolution, waiting for the next bit of evidence to pop up that can help. We're a tool to try to help you, not wizards ready to pull an unsub out of our hats."

For the first time since they met him, Arrington gives the agents a slight smile. "I like that analogy." He runs a hand over his bald head. "Get with me and Lee tomorrow afternoon when you get here."

Rossi nods. "You got it, Captain."

The man nods. "Goodnight, Agents."

After the man leaves Emily and Rossi exchange hopeful looks. All it should take is a feeling that they were moving forward to get the rest of the team down here. Otherwise these two agents would be speaking to a LOT of people on their own. Not a fun prospect at all.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hi, Mama!" Henry answers JJ's phone.

Emily smiles. "Hi, Champ. Did you have a good day today?"

"Si, Mama. Me and Rocky and Aunt Franny made Christmas dec'rations."

"You did?"

"Si, Mama! Made angels and snowf'akes."

"That's great, Henry. I can't wait to see them. I bet they are really pretty."

"Si, they is," he agrees.

"What else did you do?"

He launches into a descriptions of his lunch and the city he built that Rocky helped him to destroy. Then he tells about Alaska chasing Sergio and knocking over a plant.

"Aunt Franny cleaned it up but Ska gots to sit in the corner."

"I bet he did. Was he sorry?"

"Si, him say him sorry."

Emily just grins. "That's good. He's a good boy."

"Si, him is. You wants talk to Rocky now?"

"I'd love to. I love you, Henry."

"Love you, Mama. Mama Batman!"

"I am trying to be. Goodnight, son."

"Night, Mama."

"Mama love!"

"Hey, Rocky. I love you, too," Emily smiles as her daughter comes on the line.

"Angels, Mama!"

"I heard you made angels. I can't wait to see them."

Rocky starts to tell everything that had gone on that day in her eyes. Emily is thrilled to make out more and more words and several complete sentences. Her little girl was growing up. It brings tears to her eyes as she imagines the world opening up to her children. She finally notices Rocky's oration has stopped.

"You just had a great day, Rocky. I am so glad you had fun."

"Si, Mama. Fun. Now cookie. Bye bye."

Emily laughs as the conversation ends as quickly as it began.

"Em?"

"Hey, Jen. Sounds like the kids had a great day."

"They sure did. They made the cutest decorations for the Christmas trees. They even made sure to make some for Will and Helen and some for their BAU aunts and uncles," JJ tells her.

"That is just great. I can't wait to see them."

"I'll text you a pic after they finish their cookie and milk."

"Sounds good. Rossi and I are getting ready to go grab a bite to eat and make our plans for tomorrow based on what Garcia found for us. Want me to call you?"

"I'll call you. I want to repack my Go bag with some clothes I picked up today on the way home. It dawned on me I didn't have pregnancy clothes for warm weather."

"Ah, good point. How are the nesters doing?"

"Still loving the peanut buttered dill pickles."

Emily laughs. "Oh, that is still so wrong, baby."

JJ chuckles. "I know."

In the background, Emily hears Henry call out, "Done, Mommy."

"Ah, I hear young Mr. LaMontagne is beckoning."

JJ laughs. "Yep. And the little princess won't be far behind. I'll call you about 9:30 or so."

"Sounds good, Jen. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Emily hangs up the phone and sighs happily. It is definitely much better to call home when no one is pissed at her.

She grabs her work phone and some notes he had made and heads out to meet Rossi for a working dinner.

* * *

"Hey, baby, you're late," Emily jokes.

"I know," JJ says with a smile. "Had to wash some 'delicates' as they say for my go bag. Had to make sure if the babies have another growth spurt I wouldn't be going commando."

Emily laughs. "Good point. So, Rossi and I talked. We're pretty sure you all will be joining us here in Detroit tomorrow. We are- -"

JJ frowns. "Wait! Detroit? Don't you mean Miami?"

"Miami? Why would we be in Miami? The unsub killing with dogs is here in Detroit."

"D- -dogs? But…but that was…we were…"

Suddenly a loud thumb is heard in the hallway near Rocky's room.

"Uh, Em…hold on a second…"

JJ sets her phone down and carefully steps towards the hallway. Her heart leaps into her throat when she sees two shadowy figures, each heading into one of the children's rooms.

"NO!"

She races to the office to get her gun from the safe. She punches in the combination but the red lights flash that she got it wrong. She hears Rocky start to cry and Henry screaming for help as she punches in the number. Still nothing.

"FUCK!"

She runs out of the room and sees the men carrying her screaming children towards the foyer stairs. She races towards them.

"STOP! BRING THEM BACK! STOP!"

The two men turn and smile at her. She stumbles to a halt as she stares at Ian Doyle and Mitchell Reese.

"He wanted a son," Reese says, nodding towards Doyle. "I just want to raise the perfect killer. A girl is fine for that. No one ever expects the killer to be a woman."

"NO! PUT THEM DOWN! PLEASE!"

Doyle shakes his head. "No. We'll be back for tha other two in a few months, love. Tell Lauren hello."

The men start down the stairs, the screams of the children echoing in the hallway. JJ races down the hall, which is suddenly much, much longer than it should be.

"NO! COME BACK! NO!"

* * *

JJ sits up in bed, drenched in sweat as her last screamed "No" reverberates off the walls of her bedroom. She takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm her heart.

"A nightmare, Jennifer Prentiss. It was just a nightmare," she tells herself.

She gets up and hurries down the hall, checking to confirm both of her children are right where they should be. Rocky is curled up with Sergio in her new bedroom. Henry is with Alaska in his. She leans against the wall a moment, rubbing her stomach.

"They won't get any of you. I swear it."

As she goes back into her bedroom she detours into the office and punches in the combination on the gun safe. It works just as it should. She knew it would but also knew she wouldn't sleep if she didn't confirm it.

She glances at the clock as she crawls back into bed. It's 2:47 in the morning. She cuddles up to Emily's pillow, hoping it will settle her completely.

It doesn't.

Regretfully she reaches for her phone and punches Emily's speed dial code. It only rings once.

"Jennifer? What's wrong?" Emily asks, immediately awakened by her wife's ring tone.

JJ sniffles. "Nightmare. Bad one. I'm sorry."

Emily lets out a breath. "Honey, don't be sorry. I'm glad you called. Tell me what happened."

JJ takes a deep breath and tells Emily about the vision that is still making her heart pound. Emily wishes she could be there to hold her wife in her arms.

"Let me point out the obvious first, Jen: Doyle is dead. You have done more to protect our family from him than I ever did. And Reese is in jail. He'll soon be in prison. He'll never get a chance to hurt our kids. Ever. If he even manages to escape I can guarantee you we will know immediately and we will hire bodyguards for the kids if we need to until he is recaptured. And he will be. He won't hurt them, Jennifer. I promise you. And most importantly: if someone ever tried to hurt our kids in front of you I know you would stop them. You would never let them get away with Henry, Rocky or the twins. You would protect them with your life."

"Yeah, I would," JJ says softly. She takes a deep breath. "It was so…real and frustrating and scary."

"I know, honey. Pregnancy nightmares suck."

JJ giggles. "Yeah, they do. I am so sorry I called to wake you. I just…needed to hear your voice."

"I've already told you: it is okay. You need sleep and if me saying a couple of words gets you that sleep I am more than fine with you calling. Even when I am in another city, I am there for you. I love you, Jennifer."

JJ smiles and relaxes for the first time since awakening from the nightmare. "I know you are. I love you, too, Emily. Thank you so much for…for everything."

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Think you can get some sleep now?"

JJ sighs. "Yeah, I can. I was worried I'd be up all night but, like always, just talking to you calms and soothes me in a way no one ever has before."

Emily smiles. "That's my job, ma'am."

JJ chuckles. "Then I'd say you deserve a raise."

"Score!" Emily says, imitating JJ's voice.

JJ laughs. "Okay, now you're pushing your luck."

"Then I guess I better stop while I'm ahead."

"Definitely. I guess I need to let you get back to sleep. From what you told me earlier you and Rossi have a busy day planned."

"Yeah, we do. But I can have coffee so if you need to talk longer we can."

"Meanie. You had to mention coffee." Emily chuckles. "I think I can get back to sleep now. I love you, Em."

"I love you, too, Jen. Sweet dreams. That's an order."

JJ grins. "Yes, ma'am. Good night."

"Night, baby."

JJ hangs up and settles back on her pillow. She rubs her stomach.

"I love you, guys. But try to ease up on the nightmares, okay?"

She smiles, closes her eyes…and sleeps peacefully the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

There are three free clinics in the areas where homeless people congregate in Miami. In the hopes of getting in before the staff gets busy, Emily and Rossi are at the first one on their list at 7 since it doesn't open until 7:30. They are surprised to see a line already snaking up the block. They exchange a look of disbelief then get out and approach the building, walking right up to the door. Some of those in line don't appreciate the line jumpers. Several start to yell and one man grabs Emily by the arm.

"LINE'S AT THE BACK, BITCH!"

Emily pulls out her credentials. "It's Agent Bitch, actually. So let me go or go to jail. Your choice," she threatens.

The man lets her go, looking down at the ground. "I ain't know. I sorry, Agent Bitch."

Rossi hides a grin as the man had taken Emily seriously about the name. Emily sighs.

"No problem. You come here a lot?"

The man nods. "Yeah. They give you orange juice when you have your exam."

"That's great. What kind of exam?"

He holds up the hand that hadn't grabbed her and shows her a very dirt rag wrapped around it.

"Cut my hand on glass. It's bad."

Emily winces as she smells the unmistakable scent of infection. "I am sure it is. We just need to speak with the doctors. When we're done I'll let them know you really need to see them, okay?"

"Okay. And tells them I needs o.j."

She smiles. "I will." She pulls out a folder. "You say you come here a lot. Tell me, do you recognize any of these men?"

She flips through photos of the identified men, photos where the heads were not so decomposed as to be unrecognizable, and artists renderings of the others. He just shakes his head as she flips until she gets to victim 21.

"Hey! It's Johnny!"

Emily raises an eyebrow. "Do you happen to know Johnny's last name?"

The man shakes his head. "No. Ain't even sure his name really is Johnnny. He'd just always walk into alleys and places and say, 'Here's Johnny' like that guy on the TV show used to do."

Emily nods. "That's great information. What about these last two?"

The man studies them but shakes his head. "No I ain't know them."

"Well, thank you for looking." She pulls out a $20 and offers it to him. "Thanks for your help, sir."

He takes the money and slowly looks up into her eyes, giving her a small smile. "Ain't no one called me 'sir' in many a year."

Emily smiles. "Then that's proof people are just too rude now-a-days. You have a good day."

He smiles and nods his head. "I will now. Thanks, Agent Bitch. If you need anything else you just ask for Stan-Stan the Whistling Man."

Emily nods. "I will. Thanks, Stan."

She follows Rossi up to the door. He grins at her.

"You were great with him."

"Hey, he's out on the street. What do you want to bet the cops don't talk to the best possible witnesses?"

"Not taking that bet."

He taps on the door. A harried looking nurse glances at the door. "7:30! NO SOONER!" she yells.

Rossi and Emily hold their badges up to the door. The woman rolls her eyes and walks over, speaking to them through the glass.

"What?"

"Ma'am, we're investigating a series of deaths of homeless men. We'd like to talk to you and anyone else who has worked here the past 2 years."

She raises an eyebrow. "Why the hell is the FBI worried about dead homeless guys?"

"Because everyone deserves justice," Emily replies.

The woman doesn't look very convinced but she opens the door and admits them. As some in line start to ease forward she raises her hand.

"7:30! Stan, keep them back!"

He nods. "Yes, Nurse Rogers. I will. Promise."

"Thanks, Stan," she says as she locks the door.

"Uh, just so you know, Stan has a pretty bad cut on his right hand," Emily tells her. "I could smell infection."

Nurse Ellie Rogers sighs. "Not surprising. He tends to be the one to protect people. Probably got cut by someone hassling one of the other homeless people. He's a good man."

"Why is he on the streets?" Rossi asks.

"Got into drugs, went to prison, got out and had no one to help him. So, he ended up on the streets. Says he found his calling protecting others."

"What's with the 'Whistling Man' moniker?" Emily asks.

The nurse smiles. "He used to panhandle, offering to whistle any song for a dollar. It wasn't much but it got him fed. Doesn't whistle much anymore but he's still known for it."

The nurse calls the rest of the staff together. Emily and Rossi explain what they are investigating and start to show the pictures they have. By the time they leave they have been able to give names to 4 more men and have copies of their files

When they get to their car they start to look over the medical files. Emily frowns as she finishes looking at the second one she has.

"Hey, Rossi, for the two you've got, were their last appointments blood tests?"

He looks over at her. "As a matter of fact, yes. Was just about to ask you that."

"So he approaches them, convinces them to get a blood test, if they come up clean or clean enough that he can eat them in a reasonable amount of time, he takes them. What happens to those that fail?"

"Good question. You know, they only have to call to find out the results. Think Garcia could check times and calls to the clinic to find out who called for these results?"

"Definitely. And look at this, it was a full blood panel so they had to pay $50 for it."

"These guys aren't going to pay that. The unsub gave them the money and made sure they had ample reason not to just beat it with the cash," Rossi points out.

"Let's see if this pattern pans out at the other clinics. If it does, we know how he hunts."

"We also need to ask about how many men are asking for that full panel to be run. If they don't come up clean, what happens to them?"

"I'm scared to find out." She glances at her watch. "Look, drive on to the next clinic. I'll stay here and ask about the full panels. I'll also see if I can get Stan to ask around for us, find out if anyone is talking about a blood test for some reason. I'll catch a cab over there to meet you."

Rossi nods. "Good idea. See you in a bit."

Emily gets out and heads back inside. The place is now a madhouse. In fact, it's crazy enough that Nurse Rogers just lets her come back and look through the files on her own. In an hour she finds a total of 10 men who had wanted the blood panels run in the last 2 years.

"So what happened to the other six?" she wonders.

When she prepares to leave she finds out Stan is still being treated. She goes back to his room and taps on the door.

"Hey, Stan, how you doing?"

He smiles at her. "I good, Agent Bitch! They gave me 2 o.j.'s because I helped you."

"That's great." She pulls out her card and another $20. "I have a favor to ask, Stan. Think you can ask around to see if anyone was asked to get a blood panel run? We think a bad man is asking for people to get full panel blood tests. Remember, full panel, not just minor tests. He's probably even paying for them."

Stan nods, his eyes on her hand. "I can do that! I promise."

She hands him the money and the card. "Thanks. Call me anytime if you get someone that says yes. We'd like to talk to them if we can but if they don't want to talk just get me what information you can, okay?"

He nods eagerly. "I can do that!" He studies her card. "Hey, you're name ain't Agent Bitch."

Emily smiles. "It's a nickname. You can call me Emily."

He grins. "Emily. That's pretty. I like that better than Agent Bitch."

"Me, too. Talk to you later, Stan. Take care of yourself."

"I will, Emily."

Emily leaves and hails a cab to meet up with Rossi at the next clinic. 

* * *

Rossi sees the second clinic is just as busy as the first. He briefly profiles those in line and sees more family and fewer homeless than at the other one. This could make it a long shot to have been the one for any of their victims. Of course, it could also mean their victims would really stand out here.

He makes his way inside and resists the urge to cover his ears as no less then 4 babies are howling. He takes a deep breath and approaches the check in counter. It takes 10 minutes before the nurse behind the counter barely glances at him.

"Take a clipboard, fill it out, if you can't write ask a neighbor for help," she says as if reading from a script.

He grins. "That's not why I am here. I am- -"

"Drug reps only allowed on Thursdays by appointment."

Rossi chuckles. "Still not me." Finally the lady gives him an exasperated look. He holds up his badge. "I'm Dave Rossi with the FBI. We're looking into a series of murders and were hoping for some help."

The woman stiffens up. "We just treat them. We don't ask their private business. If they are doing anything illegal we have no idea."

"I believe that. This about patients that may have been murdered. Is there someone I can talk to for a few minutes."

The woman sighs and looks around. "MAVIS! Get up here!"

An equally harried looking woman approaches the desk. "What?"

"Got a cop with some questions."

Mavis shrugs. "If it will get me away from screaming kids for 5 minutes send him back."

The woman hits a button to open the door to the treatment rooms. Rossi meets Mavis in the hallway and introduces himself. She nods.

"Okay. Come on."

She leads him back to a break room where she can, thankfully, shut the door, giving them a small respite from the noise. Rossi explains what he's doing there and asks if she will look at some pictures. She nods and he hands her the folder. She starts to flip through the pictures and quickly pulls out 8 men she recognizes.

"We don't get a lot of homeless here so they kind of stick out. Especially when they are paying for a full blood screen," she offers.

Rossi perks up. "A full blood screen? Interesting. Think you could get me copies of their files?"

"I can try. I don't remember names, just faces." She thinks a second. "But we should be able to find them by the panel records. Give me a few minutes."

Rossi nods. "Take your time." He pulls out his phone and hits Emily's number.

"Hey, Rossi."

"Have 8 men who got their panels here. How close are you?"

"Just finishing up looking through blood panels. These men all had them done at the clinic."

"Even if the unsub isn't a cannibal we now have a definite link between victims," he says. "I know we still have one more clinic to go, but how about we go check in with Arrington first. We need more eyes and ears down here. Soon."

"I'm up for that. Let me get a cab over to you and we'll go see him."

Rossi agrees and signs off. A few minutes later Mavis comes back with the records. He offers her his card.

"If someone else comes in requesting one of these panels, please call me. It could save his life."

She nods. "I will. When we break for lunch I'll let everyone know. I know we seem gruff but truth is we wouldn't be working at a place like this if we didn't care. I'll call you, Agent Rossi. Promise."

He gives her a brilliant smile. "I know you will. Thank you."

* * *

He is sitting in his SUV reading the files 15 minutes later when Emily taps on the passenger window. She gets in and is thankful for the a.c.

"Damn cab was stifling and smelly," she moans.

He grins. "Lovely. So I took the time to call Lee. He said Arrington is in a meeting until 12:30. How about lunch before heading back there. We can compare notes and make sure we approach him clearly and succinctly. He doesn't seem to be the kind of guy who likes miscellaneous facts."

"Good thing Reid isn't here," Emily agrees with a grin.

Rossi drives them to a nice outdoor café Lee had told him about. As they sit enjoying a breeze off the ocean, sipping lemonade, Emily sighs.

"Miami isn't as bad as I remember."

"Yeah, it's great except for the humidity and hurricanes."

Emily grins. "Ah, good points. It was pretty crappy last time we were here."

"Yep. And seems like you have other reasons to hate the city, too."

Emily blushes and shrugs. "I pushed her towards him because I thought that's who she wanted. At the time she did or she wouldn't have gone on with him as long as she did."

"Or maybe she was just tired of her Princess Charming being a Sleeping Beauty."

Emily laughs. "Maybe that, too. But if I hadn't pushed and she hadn't gone we wouldn't have Henry. I'd say he's well worth the delay in our relationship."

Rossi holds up his drink. "Bene!"

"Alla salute!" she returns.

The two enjoy a nice lunch as they discuss a potential cannibal killing and eating homeless men. More evidence of why they only have a few friends outside of the job.

* * *

Arrington leans back in his very comfortable desk chair. "Well, astound me, Agents."

Emily leans forward. "We're looking for a man in his 40's. He's confident, easy going, and seemingly a nice guy. He is able to approach those with a heightened sense of caution without raising any alarms. He then convinces them to get a full panel blood test, which costs $50. He is offering them something that makes that $50 well spent."

"Most likely he offers them a job," Rossi picks up seamlessly. "Once the test is done, he takes them to where he plans to kill them. After three days he calls for the results of the test. If the man proves clean or clean enough to be safe in a few days, he plans his kill and excision accordingly. If they are not clean, he kills them unceremoniously."

Arrington frowns and sits up. "How do you know that?"

"There is no way every man he picks is worthy," Emily explains. "We had our analyst run a check and for every man killed there are at least 2 men who also had the panels done who came back with a disease or chemical addiction that would not clear up in a few days."

"So where are those men?" Arrington asks.

"We've got Garcia looking into it," Rossi answers, not wanting to explain that there is some major hacking going on. "The thing is, we still have one more clinic to go plus the VA. Then we need to hit the streets to find out what the homeless have seen or heard. They know this guy even if they don't know it yet."

Arrington studies the agents. He looks at Lee. "What are you thinking?"

"I am thinking we were way off on a lot of things, sir. And I know I would have never thought about the blood test angle. We need more people on the streets to run this guy down." He gives his captain a grin. "Why not let the Feds pay for those extra people?"

Arrington chuckles. "Good point, Lee." He thinks a second. "Okay, Agents, call in your team. Lee, let the officers working with you know there will be a full briefing when the BAU arrives."

Lee nods in relief. "Yes, sir."

Arrington looks back at Rossi and Emily. "Good job, Agents. Takes a lot to impress me and, well, you did it."

Rossi and Emily stand as Lee does. "Thank you," Rossi says as Emily nods to the captain.

As Lee goes to get in touch with his team, Rossi pulls out his phone. "Hotch, wheels up in thirty," he says.

At Quantico, Hotch chuckles. "That's my line, old man."

Rossi smiles. "I like to step on your toes a bit."

"Don't I know it. I'll call for the jet. Email us what you've got and we'll brief on the plane. I'll let you know our ETA."

"Sounds good. We'll be ready for you."

* * *

Hotch walks to the bullpen. "JJ, Reid, get your gear. Wheels up in 30 for Miami."

The two profilers nod and start to gather their things together. Hotch goes to let Morgan know they are heading out. Reid looks at JJ.

"I wonder what took so long?"

"Maybe they went out to party on South Beach last night," she jokes.

Reid laughs. "Yeah, I can see that. Sure."

As soon as the plane has leveled out, Hotch moves to the couch. He sees everyone is reading the information Emily had sent a little while before. When everyone is done, he takes a deep breath.

"So, what are we looking at?" he asks.

"The fact that he can get to these men without arousing suspicion means they have to be familiar with him somehow," Morgan states. "They had to have a reason to trust him."

"I agree," Hotch says. "Without that trust they would have taken that $50 and walked out a back door. They had to know his word was good."

"So, clinic employee, soup kitchen volunteer, clergyman, social worker," JJ rattles off possible connects to the victims.

Hotch nods. "In three different concentrations of homeless areas. If Rossi and Emily find our last 5 victims at the last clinic we need to cross check their employees and former employees."

"I can start a geographic profile of the dump sites to see if anything clicks," Reid says. "Maybe we can see other places he could come in contact with his victims."

Hotch nods. "Do it." Before he can say anymore Garcia pops up on the laptop on the table.

"Sir, I just talked to Rossi and Emily. I found a veteran who had gotten the full blood panel done and was later found dead in the Everglades." She looks a bit green. "Uh, well, some of him was found, at least."

"That's a gross thought," JJ notes.

"So his thighs were missing?" Morgan asks.

"No. Nothing excised by humans," Garcia says.

JJ nods. "Interesting. Garcia, what did his blood test show?"

"He was positive for Hepatitus C."

"No cure," JJ states. "He was killed because he knew the unsub, knew the ruse. But he wasn't worthy to…ugh…eat. I think I've just become a vegetarian." She finishes at a mumble as she rubs her stomach, trying to get the nausea she is feeling to go away.

Hotch pats her consolingly on the shoulder. "Are they going to check it out?"

"Yes, sir. The dump site was about an hour and half away from Miami. The police with the murder case are about 2 hours away. The detective agreed to meet them at the dumpsite. If it connects, they will release the files to FDLE to go with the others."

"Good work, Garcia. When we land, Morgan, JJ go see the clinic and V.A. Finish what Rossi and Emily started. Reid, keep working on the geo profile. I'll meet with Arrington to reiterate we're here to help not take. If Rossi and Emily definitively link the body in the Glades we'll need to start looking for more bodies found there."

"Uh, sir, if I may, I've already started that search. But according to the officer I talked to, most bodies dumped in the Everglades are not found," Garcia tells him.

"Ah. Good point. Still, I am guessing you're not giving up?"

"No, sir. Bodies over the last 2 years, filtered by those killed by having their throats cut."

"Okay. Let us know when you find something."

Garcia signs off. JJ bites her lip a minute. "Uh, if he can get rid of bodies in the Everglades and they are rarely, if ever, found. Why start dumping bodies at Lake Okeechobee and heads in Miami?"

"Because he likes to show what he's gotten away with," Morgan tells her. "The ones in the Glades are mistakes, cast offs. The ones in Miami and Okeechobee are trophies. He wants to see himself in the paper and know he's gotten one over on the cops as well as a nice meal or two."

JJ groans. She turns a bit green. Hotch moves his legs a second before she leaps up and heads to the bathroom. He looks at Reid and Morgan.

"How about we downplay the cannibal angle around JJ?"

Morgan winces. "Yeah, was just thinking that myself."


	6. Chapter 6

Rossi and Emily had gotten word about the body in the Glades just before they left for the third clinic on their list. Knowing the team will take that and the V.A. they make their way southwest to meet the local detective who had gotten the case. He seems more than a little eager to pass off the case to someone else since he'd had no leads whatsoever.

"How would we find other bodies out there?" Emily poses to Rossi.

"We don't. Predators feast on them, drag off the bones, it's a near perfect dump site. Short of someone stumbling on the scene like this time or something getting killed and the victim being in a stomach the bodies are just gone. It's why the mafia uses it quite a bit."

Emily sighs. "Yeah, was hoping you wouldn't say that. And if they have any partially digested parts let's not bring it up to Jen."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because I was pregnant when we dealt with partially digested parts in Texas. Trust me, just the thought made me sick."

Rossi laughs. "That's right! Forgot about that. Okay, no digestion talk around your wife."

When they pull into the parking area the detective had told them about they find him already waiting. He smiles and offers his hands as they walk up.

"Detective John Garry."

Rossi extends his hand. "SSA's Dave Rossi and Emily Prentiss."

"Wish we were meeting under better circumstances. Ready for a hike?"

"As ready as we can be," Emily says, glad she had changed into her combat boots and cargo pants before they left Miami.

He hands them a GPS unit. "I hate to do this but I can't stay with you. Just got a call on a homicide and since I'm the only homicide cop in the area I have to report to it."

Rossi takes the unit. "Understood. We'll meet you back at your station when we've had a look around."

Garry nods and gets in his Explorer. Rossi and Emily exchange a look and start off. It takes them the better part of a hot, sweaty hour to get to the clearing where the body had been found by a Park Police officer. Since there was no detective assigned to the National Park Police in this area the locals had been given the case. They scan the clearing.

"He had to know this place," Emily points out.

"Yep. We passed several other places he could have left the body. Why march the guy all the way here?"

"You think he killed them here?"

"You see anyone dragging a free meal through this place?"

Emily nods. "Good point. So does he kill them all in this spot or does he- -"

Her words break off as her eyes get wide. Rossi is turned away so doesn't see the fear on her face.

"Ro- -Ro- -Ro- -"

He turns when she starts to stutter her name. He frowns. "What?"

She points beyond him, still unable to speak his name. He turns…and jumps about 5 feet back towards Emily. The largest snake either of them have ever seen is lowering itself out of a tree. It opens its mouth and hisses at them as it drops the rest of the way to the ground. Its lidless eyes seem locked on Rossi as it starts to slither towards them. Swiftly.

The agents both pull their guns and fire as the creature throws its body forward to strike at its potential meal. The head explodes as the rest of the 15' long body twists and turns in muscle spasms. The agents stare a minute then Emily whips out her phone and quickly turns on the video recorder. Rossi looks at her in shock.

"What the fuck is that for?"

"Rossi, we'll have to fire a discharge of firearms report. I want video fucking evidence that we fired at a fucking monster, not some damn garter snake."

Rossi nods and pulls out his phone. "Good point."

It takes nearly 5 minutes for the death throes to end. When the thing moves no more, Emily looks at Rossi.

"Unsub may have known a large predator called this clearing home."

"Maybe. Or maybe this thing has friends. Let's get the fuck out of here."

"Agreed."

The agents pocket their phones…but do not holster their guns.

They make their way back to their SUV as quick as the can, both watching carefully for snakes, gators, and anything else that might consider them a good dinner.

* * *

JJ and Morgan get in their SUV and go right to the third clinic on the list Rossi and Emily had created. It is just as much of a madhouse in the late afternoon as it is first thing in the morning. JJ finally gets up to the counter.

"Hi, we're Agents Jareau and Morgan with the FBI. We really need to speak with someone regarding a series of murders."

The man raises an eyebrow. "Murders? Honey, I can bet half the people that come in here have committed at least one," he says disbelievingly.

"What about people who have _been_ murdered?" JJ asks.

"Then I doubt they'd need our clinic, now would they?" he snarks.

JJ slaps her hand down on the counter. "Get us someone to talk to or get arrested for obstruction of justice. Your choice, _honey_," she warns sarcastically.

The guy rolls his eyes and leaves his little office. A few minutes later a middle-aged man steps out into the waiting area.

"Uh, Agents? If you could come with me."

"HEY! I BE AN AGENT IF IT GET ME SEEN!" a man yells.

The doctor stops. "Duncan, we'll get to you eventually. We always do."

The disgruntled man sits down, grumbling about the government getting preferential treatment. Morgan and JJ follow the doctor down the hall to a crowded office.

"Now, Terrell said someone here got murdered?"

"We're not sure yet," JJ explains. She tells him about the cases and offers him the pictures of the still unidentified 5 victims. "Do you recognize these men?"

The doctor studies them and slowly shakes his head. "Sorry, no. I see the patients for maybe 5 minutes. Let me get Wendell, he's our head nurse and may know them. The nurses have more time with them."

The agents wait while the doctor goes for the other man. A few minutes later a nice looking African-American man walks in.

"Doc says some of our patients may have been killed?"

"Maybe," JJ tells him and gives him the pictures. "Do you know these men?"

Wendell looks at the five photos. "I know these four. Never seen this guy before," he hands her back the artists' sketch of victim 1. "These guys were frequent flyers here. I think sometimes they just came in because we actually talked to them, gave them some time, you know?"

Morgan nods. "I understand. Any chance you can pull their files? We need to know why they were here."

Wendell nods. "Sure. Hold on a second."

He leaves the agents pacing for 5 minutes. When he walks in he hands the folders over.

"Here you go. Real shame. I remember when Saul came in he was saying he'd found a job as long as he passed his drug test."

JJ raises an eyebrow. "A job?"

"Yeah. Not sure what it was but it must have to do with food or something. He had to get a full run so I assumed it was with a food bus or something. He was so excited about the pay. Must have been a good Samaritan kind of thing since they gave him $50 for the test. Might want to check churches and stuff."

Morgan nods. "Good to know. We'll look into it." He offers his hand and a card. "Thanks, man. If anyone else comes in paying for a blood test give me a call. Better safe than sorry, you know?"

Wendell nods. "Right. I'll do that. Good luck."

As the man leaves, Morgan looks at JJ, who had been flipping through the charts. "All of them got the blood test, Morgan."

"We need to find out who got the test but failed."

"Right. You want to ask Terrell or should I?" she teases.

He rolls his eyes. "I'll call Garcia. It will be easier."

"True. But we need to know if anyone failed the test and if they've been seen since. If they are getting dumped in the Everglades we'll only know if they aren't around."

"Damn. Good point. I'll go talk to Terrell."

"Okay. I'll call Hotch and let him know we still have no i.d. on victim 1. That's so strange."

"Makes me think if we looked hard enough we could find him."

"Me, too," JJ says, pulling out her phone. "Or more to the point, Garcia can find him."

Morgan laughs. "Yep, that is exactly what I mean."

As he leaves JJ calls Garcia to get her to try to match the artists sketch of victim 1 to missing reports across the U.S. The analyst makes sure to tell JJ just how close to impossible that is going to be…and then gets started on it. JJ next calls Hotch.

"Hotch, we still haven't identified victim 1 but we have names and charts for the other 4."

"What are your thoughts on the first victim?" he asks.

"Morgan and I both think he may be easily identified if we reach out beyond southern Florida. We've got Garcia on it but she has pointed out it will be hard with an artists sketch versus a real picture."

"But if anyone can find him she can. Makes me think the first victim scared him. Something about that death made him turn to the homeless," Hotch theorizes.

"I thought the same thing. He could be the one that breaks the case open for us," JJ hopes.

"True. Well, get to the VA. Captain Arrington is on his way to meet with Reid and I. Call me if you have a big break."

"Will do."

JJ hangs up just as Morgan returns. He has 8 folders for men who had paid for the blood test and never been seen again. Hopefully Garcia can add it to her phone records search to see who was calling to get the results. JJ runs down for him what she and Hotch discussed then the two go to the V.A. to see if they can find anyone other than the 6 victims who had the tests run at that facility.

* * *

Hotch extends his hand to Rex Arrington. "Captain Arrington, good to meet you."

The man shakes the hand. "Your two agents impressed me yesterday. Let's see if we can keep that streak going."

"We aim to do that and more. We want to bring this man to justice."

"You still think he will escalate?"

"Actually we now think he's covering his tracks." Hotch gestures towards the conference room. "Let me show you what we have."

Arrington follows him in. He comes to a stop when he sees names under all but 1 picture. "Son of a bitch…"

Hotch ignores the stunned statement. "Each of these men paid $50 for a full panel blood test and they were never seen again. Several mentioned they were offered a job and the thought was a church was maybe giving them a hand up versus a hand out. That would fit all of these victims but the first. He will be the key to finding the unsub."

"How so?"

"So far it appears he wasn't homeless. Even his autopsy shows someone healthier than someone on the street would be. Something about his death made the unsub start targeting the forgotten citizens. Sadly these are people no one misses, no one looks for. There are no family members calling you or the press. There are no candlelight vigils. We see it all over the country: serial killers that target the homeless because they don't want to get caught and they don't have the self-importance of a Bundy or a Rader to go after people who will be missed. This unsub wanted to stay hidden and he realized if he went after targets like his first he would soon be found."

"Damn. You really get into the minds of these bastards, don't you?"

"Yes, we do," Hotch answers proudly. "And we stop them. My agents also found men at the clinics who paid for the blood panel but were never seen again. All of them had diseases or drug use that would be damaging to the body and make the meat inedible."

"Inedi- -" Arrington pales considerably. "Oh, dear God…he eats them? You're sure?"

"At this point I am 95% sure we are hunting a cannibal. Those that don't meet his needs, he disposes of so they don't give him up. Right now Rossi and Prentiss are down in a part of the Everglades where a man was found with his throat slashed. They are checking it out to see if it could be a dump site for other victims deemed unworthy."

"It probably is," Reid says, speaking for the first time since the men entered the room.

The men turn towards him. "Captain Arrington, this is Dr. Reid. He's been working on a geographic profile. What do you have, Reid?"

Reid points to three places on his map. "This is Lake Okeechobee. It is approximately 1.5 hours from Miami. This is the dump site where Rossi and Prentiss are. It is approximately 1.5 hours from Miami."

"Uh, so what does that mean? He's avoiding Miami?" Arrington asks.

"But he doesn't avoid Miami. He leaves the heads here. He dumps the bodies at the lake and your investigation has centered on those two points."

"And that's wrong?"

Reid nods. "Yes." He takes a marker and daws a line out from the three points until the cross each other. "Our unsub is here. And it is 1.5 hours from each place."

"Son of a bitch," Arrington mutters for the second time since he entered the room. "Are you sure?"

"We would need to know more people were dumped in the Everglades but for now I'm fairly certain we'll find him in this area around I-75 East," Reid tells him.

Hotch glances at Arrington. "So we know where he hunts, we know who he hunts. Now we just need to find him."

Arrington slowly nods. "Lee and his team will be here soon. Good luck, Agents. And…thank you."

Hotch nods as the man leaves.

* * *

Hotch regrets that Emily and Rossi aren't back for the briefing with Lee's team. But they are looking through unsolved cases down by the dump site to see if any others match the unsubs m.o. When Lee nods that all are present, Hotch steps forward.

"The man we are looking for is familiar to the homeless and non-threatening to them. He is a volunteer, employee or worker in their neighborhoods. He is able to convince people who tend to distrust others that he will give them something better than $50 if they get a blood test."

Morgan steps forward next. "He's probably in his 40's, confident, easy-going. If you met him on the street you would thing he's a nice guy. But if you looked in his eyes you would notice a calculating coldness as he sizes you up inadvertently. He is always looking for just the right victim."

JJ steps forward next, having insisted on giving this part of the profile. "The precise extractions of the thigh meat, the blood tests to make sure the victim is disease free, lead us to believe the unsub is a cannibal. He is hunting these men and eating their thighs and dumping the rest of the body when he has what he wants."

"A cannibal? Seriously?" one officer scoffs.

"A cannibal," JJ confirms. "And he is hunting again right now." She holds up a folder. "A man named Ryan Steen went in for a blood test yesterday. Paid his $50. Now we have to try to find him."

"How do we do that?" the only woman on the team asks.

"We'll be going out tonight to talk to the homeless. We need to know if they have seen Steen and if they have ever been approached by a man offering to pay for a blood test," Lee says, taking over the meeting. "We'll each be paired with one of the FBI agents who are skilled profilers. Let them take the lead in the questioning as they read body language and tells for a living."

"Fucking voodoo science," one officer mumbles.

JJ turns her head towards him. "Voodoo science? You mean it's voodoo that you're recently single, not yet divorced but already your ring is off. But neither your wife or your girlfriend will press your uniform for you now so you've been using spray wrinkle releaser to get most of the obvious wrinkles out. You missed your cuffs, by the way. And fast food is not your friend. You've put on a few pounds since losing them both which is why your shirt is starting to get a bit tight. Your socks don't match which tells me you're also doing your own laundry and instead of matching up the socks just grabbing two of the same colour in the morning. Is that the voodoo science you mean or should I go on?"

The man had seemed to sink into his seat as JJ spoke. He quickly tucks his legs under his chair as everyone looks to see if his socks are, indeed, different. They are.

Lee grins. "Go get some dinner. We'll meet back here at 9 and plan to spend a few hours out on the streets. See you then."

The officers stand to leave. The female officer walks up to JJ. "Agent Jareau? Molly Whitten."

JJ extends her hand. "Good to meet you."

"That stuff you said about Gresky, was it a guess or what?"

JJ grins. "It was more an educated guess. He was rumpled, the socks mismatched, his shirt tight, and his ring tan was still visible but fading. Signs of a dumped man. Add in the bitterness and it was a lucky guess he had a gal on the side and he was dumped by both."

"Very cool. Think learning stuff like that will help me make detective?"

JJ nods. "Can help. Being able to read the things people aren't saying can be very handy. We make appearances at conferences all across the country giving mini-lessons in profiling." She hands Molly her card. "Give me a call or drop me an email when this is over and I can let you know the next time one of us or a member of another team is speaking."

Molly pockets the card. "Great! I really appreciate it."

"No problem. See you at 9."


	7. Chapter 7

As Rossi and Emily start the drive back to Miami. They are quiet the first half hour, each considering what they had seen.

"He's dumped there before," Rossi finally says.

"Yep. Rossi, you don't just become a cannibal. You don't just learn how to avoid detection."

"Nope. He's got a history somewhere."

"That makes me sick," Emily mutters as she stares out the window. "Why don't we know this guy?"

"We might. He could be in a watch file somewhere. If he just moved here two years ago we could have a file on him from another state."

Emily nods. "True."

"Well, look at the bright side."

Emily rolls her head to the left to stare at the older agent. "There's a bright side?"

He grins. "When you get to the hotel your wife will be waiting for you."

Emily can't stop the smile that comes across her face. "True. Very, very true. And another good point is so far my son doesn't seem pissed I am off playing Batman."

"Another good point indeed." He pats her on the leg in a fatherly way. "Turn it off for now, Emily. Rest and clear your head so you can properly welcome your wife back to Miami."

Emily nods. "I can do that. As long as she left the peanut buttered dill pickles at home."

Rossi laughs. "Yeah…that just isn't sounding any better."

Emily joins him in his laughter.

* * *

Reid looks at Hotch in the hotel elevator. "Why didn't we mention the potential area where the unsub lives?"

"We don't want these officers trying to draw lines out there themselves. We needed them to concentrate on our best witnesses and the hunting grounds. Most likely the I-75 never comes up with the unsub is talking to the victims. We don't need that to cloud their questions."

Reid nods. "Good point." He pauses a second. "So, um, are we all going out there tonight?"

Hotch grins. "You still scared of investigating at night?"

"If you looked as wimpy as me wouldn't you be scared?" Reid points out.

Hotch laughs. "Well, there are 5 members of Lee's team. That's one for me, Morgan, Rossi, Prentiss and either you or JJ. You make the call."

Reid rolls his eyes. "What call is there to make? Emily will kill me if I offer to stay back at the command center."

"So you're more scared of Emily than the dark?"

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Definitely. Just wanted to make sure I understood you before I make the assignments."

Reid chuckles as they get off on their floor and separate to go to their rooms.

* * *

"Hey, where are you?"

"Just pulling into the parking lot," Emily answers her wife. "You in the room?"

"Yep. Guys are down in the restaurant. I had a couple incidents today that make me not want to be around food."

"Ah, okay. Should I eat down there with them?"

"No, I have our dinner planned out. I…I need to see you, Em."

Emily smiles. "Then see me you will, sweetheart. Be up in a few minutes." She hangs up and looks at Rossi. "Guys are in the restaurant. Jen is feeling needy and a bit sick so I'll see you all later."

"Okay. I'll let them know what we learned and I'll show Hotch the video so he believes us about the firearms discharge."

Emily chuckles. "Good idea."

The two part in the lobby and Emily takes the elevator up to the 5th floor. She opens her door and steps in.

"Jen?"

"Right here, Em," she replies from the bed.

Emily steps farther in. She'd had a thought about how Jen might meet her. As she sees the beautiful blonde wearing nothing but a smile she knew she had been right. She drops her brief case and starts to strip. JJ starts to rub her breasts, perking them up into firm peaks.

"Hurry, Em. I need…need to feel…feel…"

Emily hurries over and stops the sentence with a deep, passionate kiss. When it ends she stares into her wife's eyes.

"I know. I wish I could have done this last night when you needed it; when you had the nightmare."

JJ pulls her down onto the bed. "Forget about then, Emily. Please…remind me what's real."

"As always, whatever you wish," Emily says as she starts to kiss along her wife's jaw and her hands start to stroke over her body.

"Oh, Em."

"Can you feel me, Jennifer?"

JJ's hands rove the strong back above her. "Yes, Em."

Emily rolls, pulling JJ on top of her. Her hands cupping the sensitive breasts dangling tantalizing in front of her.

"Can you feel me, Jennifer?" she asks again.

JJ rocks her hard, wet center along Emily's flexing thigh. "Oh, God, yes, Em. I can feel you. I swear I feel you."

"I am here. I am real. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Emily."

Emily pulls her wife down, her mouth engulfing one glorious breast as a hand toys with the other. JJ starts to rock harder. Emily lifts her leg a little, putting more pressure on the engorged clit she can feel against her muscles.

"Oh, God, Em, it feels. So. Good!" JJ pants.

Emily stares up at the blonde goddess. She had seen the desperation in her wife's eyes as she entered the room. Now she sees nothing but love and desire. She smiles; glad to see her wife settling just in these few moments of contact. She rolls again, putting JJ below her. She kisses her way down, JJ's neck. JJ arches up, thrusting her breasts towards Emily. The brunette lavishes each one with attention for several minutes. JJ scrapes her nails up her wife's back. Emily moans at the contact.

"Fuck me, Em. Please, fuck me."

Emily would love to take more time but she hears the desperation in JJ's voice. She hurries down her wife's body, settling between strong legs.

"So beautiful, Jennifer. So ready for me."

"Yes. Please…love me."

"Always, Jennifer. I will always love you," Emily vows.

She draws her tongue through golden curls. JJ arches up.

"OH! YES!"

Emily thrusts her tongue deep into silken folds, moaning as JJ meets each one with her pumping hips. When fingers tangle into brunette locks, Emily takes the hint. Her lips latch onto the jewel of her desire. Two fingers replace her tongue diving deep into JJ's core.

"OH! YES! YES! LIKE THAT, EM!"

Emily works her wife harder and faster. As she feels the inner walls clamping down on her fingers she reaches up with one hand and tweaks a sensitive nipple. It is the last bit of stimulation the golden beauty needs. Her hips nearly bounce Emily off the bed as she orgasms.

"YES! YES! YESSSSSSSSSS! YES!"

As the aftershocks slowly still, Emily crawls up the bed and brushes a lock of hair out of gorgeous blue eyes.

"I love you, Jennifer Prentiss."

JJ strokes a hand down Emily's cheek. "I love you, too, Emily Prentiss."

They share a few more gentle, sweet kisses…and then Emily's stomach growls. The women chuckle as Emily rubs her forehead against JJ's.

"I hope you meant it when you said you had dinner ready for me."

JJ grins and stands up. "I did. Stay right there." She goes to the refrigerator in the room and pulls out two Subway subs, 2 Sprites and grabs the chips off the dresser. "Dinner is served."

Emily takes her sub. "Great! I'm starved. Are they the same thing?"

"Yep."

Emily unwraps her sandwich and stares at it a moment. She opens it up to confirm what she's seeing. She raises an eyebrow at her wife. "Vegetables?"

"With ranch dressing," JJ confirms.

"So…you're giving me a salad sandwich."

"I, uh, kinda have a thing against meat right now," JJ admits with a shrug.

Emily stares at her pregnant wife a minute before starting to chuckle. "You are so lucky I love you as much as I do, Jennifer Prentiss." She rubs the babies. "And I love you, too, little nesters, but you better get Mommy off this vegetarian kick quickly. Okay?" She looks up at JJ. "They say okay."

JJ laughs and cuddles up beside her wife to eat. "Of course they do. Now, let's eat so maybe I can rock your world the way you rocked mine before we head back to the precinct."

"You going to be our command center?"

"Yep. I'll be point of contact for all teams. And any leads you all get will be called in to me so I can either send Garcia an email or I can mark points on the maps to help narrow the geo profile."

"Good. I was kind of worried Hotch would send you out and leave Reid back at the station. He hates being out at night, especially with someone that doesn't know him."

JJ chuckles. "He'll drive whoever he's with crazy with nervous stats."

Emily laughs. "Yes, yes he will."

Their talk turns to the kids, since both had called home earlier. The more they chat the more settled JJ gets. As they finish their meals Emily takes the trash, wads it up and tosses it towards the trash can. She misses it by a large margin. JJ starts laughing.

"Nice one, Shaq."

"Oh, hush. Like you could do better from here."

JJ raises her eyebrow at the challenge. She finishes her soda and tosses the bottle that way. She grins.

"She shoots! She SCORES!" she celebrates as it banks in.

Emily laughs and rolls over, pinning her wife below her. "You best be nice if you ever want to score again, Agent Jareau."

JJ runs her fingers through Emily's hair. "As if you could stay celibate around me, Agent Prentiss."

Emily grins. "Hmm…good point."

She kisses JJ, her tongue playing along her wife's lips. As it starts to deepen…

…the alarm clock starts to buzz. Emily looks up in confusion. JJ sighs.

"I set it for 8 in case we got carried away."

"Ah. Good idea." Emily slaps it off and stands. "Come on. Let's shower and get ready to go hang out all night with the homeless."

JJ takes her wife's hand and stands. "Good plan, Mrs. Prentiss. Very good plan."

They share one more kiss and go into the bathroom to start getting ready for a night chasing down leads.

* * *

Across town, Molly Whitten had been deciding what to wear. They had been told no uniforms so people would be more at ease. She decides on jeans, her work boots, and a polo shirt. She could wear a lightweight jacket to conceal her gun. She grins.

"It's almost like I'm a detective already," she whispers to herself.

She is pacing nervously when her cell rings. She smiles when she sees it is her boyfriend.

"Hi, Nolan."

"Hi, Molly. You sound excited."

"I am! Lee got the FBI's BAU called in. They've already made huge strides with the case."

"Really? Tell me more."

"Oh, yeah," Molly answers, not hearing the unusual curiosity in her boyfriends voice due to her excitement. "They figured out he's targeting the homeless so we're going out tonight to talk to some of those in the areas where he may be hunting. If he has spoken to any of them we'll know soon. Well, at least I hope we will."

"So they figured all that out in two days. Impressive. If they are right."

"I'm pretty sure they are. They found all the victims except the first one had been to local free clinics. All had paid for blood tests for some sort of job they were offered. The agents figure that was the ruse to get the victims in his car. Then if they pass the blood test he kills them and…well, I'll spare you those details. If they fail, he dumps them in the Everglades for the predators to dispose of."

Nolan raises his eyebrows. How the fuck had they figured out so much so quickly? "That's gruesome, Molly. What is too gruesome compared to letting animals eat them?"

"You sure you want to know?"

"I'm tough. I can take it," he tells her.

"They…think he's eating them," she says hesitantly.

"No! That only happens in stories and on TV! They can't be serious."

"Sadly they can be. We'll know more after tonight."

"I…I hate the thought of you out on the street with someone like that. I mean, I know your job can be dangerous but most of the time I don't know the truly depraved creatures you are out there with. Promise me you'll call me when you get in. I don't care the time."

Molly smiles, feeling so happy that he worries about her the way he does. "I promise to call, Nolan. Thank you for caring about me the way you do and at the same time not trying to make me change jobs."

Nolan smiles. "I know the job is very important to you which makes it important to me. I guess you need to go now."

"Yeah, I do. I'll talk to you later."

"I can't wait to hear from you. Bye, sweetie."

"Bye, honey."

Molly puts her phone in the cradle, still happy she has found a man who really gets her job.

Nolan closes his phone. Yes, her job was very, very important to him. Who would have thought the Feds would figure out so much in 2 days when the locals had been floundering for over a year? He walks down the hall and smiles at the man sleeping peacefully in his guest bedroom. He'd had his blood test yesterday. That means the results would be ready after 5 p.m. tomorrow. Sadly it looks like Ryan Steen would be his last meal for a time. At least until he could arrange another transfer with his film company.

"Sleep well, Ryan," he whispers.

He turns and goes back to his room, knowing he will hardly rest until he gets the call from Molly and his latest update on their search…for him. He chuckles. He had played her so well.


	8. Chapter 8

As JJ and Emily leave their room they run into Morgan and Hotch in the hallway. Morgan laughs and pats Emily on the shoulder.

"Nice shot, Annie Oakley. You must have made your wife proud."

JJ stops and turns to her wife. "Proud? Shooting? What the hell, Em?"

Morgan clamps his mouth shut as Emily glares at him. "I hadn't told her yet, Morgan."

"Told me what? Emily, what happened?"

Emily takes JJ's hands in hers and stares into her eyes. "Jen, I was never in any danger. Rossi was. We both shot it. It was…shit…hold on." She pulls out her phone and cues up the video. "Here."

JJ watches the Burmese python in the throes of death. Her jaw drops. "What…how did…where was…who…"

"Rossi and I were looking at the dump site in the Everglades. I turned to him and saw it dropping out of the tree. Honestly, I was so damn scared I couldn't even say Rossi's name. He leapt towards me, it dropped to the ground and started towards us so we both blew its head off. I videoed it because I _knew_ Morgan would never believe how big it was if I didn't."

JJ's eyes are stuck on the screen as she fast forwards until the thing finally stills. She resumes normal play. A stick enters the frame and pokes the snake.

"That was Rossi confirming it was dead since we had to walk past it to leave. Park Police said it is an invasive species with no natural predators and thanked us for killing it. They planned to go retrieve the carcass for study."

JJ slowly hands the phone back to her wife, shaking her head. "Morgan, you ever spring something like that on me again I'll beat you."

"Hey, now, not my fault Emily didn't mention it!"

"She didn't have time. We were…we had…damn it…never mind." JJ walks towards the elevator, her blush telling them all what she was about to admit.

Emily slowly turns and sees Hotch blushing and Morgan grinning. She raises her finger at her best friend.

"Don't say it," she warns.

"Say what…Porn Star."

He walks off chuckling as Emily rolls her eyes and looks at Hotch. "Remind me again why he's my friend."

Hotch grins. "Birds of a feather," he answers dryly and follows Morgan down the hall.

Emily thinks about it a second and shrugs. "Yeah…maybe. I am so going to get him back for this one."

She follows them down the hall arriving just as the elevator does. As they get on, JJ takes her wife's hand.

"Promise me you won't play with anymore wildlife."

Emily grins and pecks her on the cheek. "I promise to do my best to toss Morgan in the way of any wildlife we come across."

Morgan turns and glares at her as JJ just grins. "Promise accepted," JJ agrees.

Morgan just rolls his eyes and turns back towards the doors.

* * *

At the police station, Hotch looks out at the gathered LEOs. "The man we are looking for hunts probably late in the day. From what we can tell he only takes one man at a time and most likely has his next victim right now. We are looking for people who may have seen any of our victims or been approached by the hunter."

Reid steps forward. "He is looking for a specific type. He has crossed races but what doesn't change is he is looking for somewhat healthy individuals. He wants people that will not give him a disease or whose drug use will transfer to him." He walks over to the pictures. "The one thing unknown to him is that he is looking for men with archetypical strength features: strong brow, defined chin, well spaced eyes, evenly set ears with definite lobes. When he sees these men he feels a chemical attraction that tells him that is his mark. He may even pass up another, healthier individual to reach someone with these features. In his mind, someone without these features is inferior and, therefore, not worthy of feeding him."

"That is fucking sick," Gresky mutters.

"Gresky, change your attitude or get out of here," Lee warns.

"Why the fuck are we listening to this chemical shit about strong faces? The killer is a fucking psycho and this is not getting us any closer to finding him!" Gresky complains.

Lee crosses his arms. "Okay, Gresky, you seem to have this guy's number. How do we find him?"

Gresky colours as all eyes turn to him. The profilers study the room and see most in the room are not fans of the blowhard. Hotch leans towards Morgan.

"Change of plans. You're with Lee. I'll take Gresky."

Morgan raises an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Yep. Something tells me you'll punch the jerk out by the end of the night otherwise."

Morgan chuckles. "Probably."

Lee nods his head at Gresky's silence. "As I thought. You in or out, Gresky? Last chance?"

Gresky grunts. "In, sir."

"Good." Lee turns back to Hotch. "Agent Hotchner?"

Hotch steps forward again. "Detective Lee, you'll be with Agent Morgan. Officer Whitten with Rossi. Jackson with Prentiss. Fielder with Reid." He turns and pins Gresky with a glare. "And Gresky you're with me. Agent Jareau will be here to coordinate for all the teams. If you need back-up or need a patrol car to pick up a witness call her. Any questions?" No one has any. "Good luck tonight. Be safe."

The group splits up to meet up with their partners. Emily walks over to young officer who is standing ramrod straight as she approaches.

"Hi, Jackson. Emily Prentiss."

He nods and shakes her hand. "Ma'am."

Emily grins. "How long have you been out of the military?"

He manages a grin. "Less than a year, ma'am. I guess it shows?"

"Oh, yeah. Loosen up a bit. The men we are talking to can be wary of police and authority figures. We want to befriend them, not scare them."

He lets out a breath. "I'll try, ma'am. Promise."

Emily smiles. "Start by calling me Emily. And I'll call you…?"

"Uh, Jackson? I really hate Warren."

Emily chuckles. "How about Jack, just to make it more casual?"

"Sure, that works."

"Good. Now, let me get our radio from Agent Jareau and we can get going."

"Yes, ma'am." Emily just raises an eyebrow. He blushes. "I mean, yes, Emily."

"See, you said it and your badge didn't crumble to dust, Jack."

He chuckles as Emily walks over to get their radio. JJ walks up. They hold a whispered conversation.

"Impression?"

"He's green but he'll be good to have in a pinch. I'll be fine, Jen. Promise."

"I'll hold you to that, Agent Prentiss. Good luck."

"Thanks. Be in touch soon. Love you."

"Love you, too."

JJ turns her attention to the other teams as all come over to get their radio and head out. Hotch is last.

"Should I keep an ambulance on standby in case you throttle Gresky?" JJ asks with a grin.

Hotch chuckles. "Nah. Let him suffer."

JJ laughs as Hotch leaves with the grumpy officer. JJ sighs and sits down…to wait.

* * *

Reid and Officer Buzz Fielder had been walking their section of the city for 2 hours. During that time they had seen only a few vagrants and had used the time to talk. They found out they had lived polar opposite lives. Introverted geek v. Extroverted big man on campus. Captain of the football team v. Target of the jocks. Needed exceptions to pass his physical qualifications v. set records that still stand 5 years later in several of his qualifications.

And despite it all they really liked each other. They chat and laugh like old friends, even when Buzz admits he was as big a jerk as some of the guys that picked on Reid.

"I get that," Reid says. "Back then I didn't understand it so much but I know peer pressure can make people act against their nature. It's nice to know you knew then it was bad."

"Yeah, but I still did it. I guess that's why I like working the juvenile cases when they come up. I figure maybe the kids just need someone to tell them there's another way," Buzz admits.

"I wish someone had…"

Reid's voice trails off as he sees a homeless woman talking to a man in chinos and a polo shirt. Too old to be heading to a club but just the right age to be their unsub. Fielder's eyes follow Reid's.

"Do you know him?" Reid asks.

"No. Think we should go make his acquaintance?"

"Not just yet. He's talking to a woman. Our unsub goes after men. Let's see where he goes when they finish talking. It could be he is asking if she has seen any men out tonight."

Fielder nods. "Got it."

"I'll call JJ just to give her a heads up," Reid says and pulls out his phone.

After letting JJ know about the potential suspect, Reid and Fielder had followed at a distance as the man walked on. He talks to another homeless woman and this time Reid sees him slip her a piece of paper. After the suspect has moved on, Reid carefully approaches the woman.

"Hi, my name is Spencer."

"So?" the woman snarls.

"I saw that man give you something, can you tell me what it is?"

"It's mine, that's what it is! Go away!" she says and starts to walk past him.

"I know it's yours I just…was hoping to see it? You can keep it and I'll even give you $20 just for a look at it," he offers.

The woman stares at him a minute. "Okay. Money first."

Reid pulls out a $20 and hands it to her. She digs into the pocket of her jacket.

"He said it would protect me," she says as she pulls her hand out.

And pepper sprays Reid.

Reid screams as the woman hurries away. Fielder races over to him and grabs him by the shoulders.

"Easy, Reid! I got ya!" He pulls out his radio. "This is Fielder. We need an ambulance!"

JJ gets their location and calls for EMS. She then grabs her cell phone and calls Hotch.

"Hotch…you are NOT going to believe this. Well…maybe you are." She tells him what happened.

Hotch can't help but chuckle. "So Reid got maced by a homeless woman. Morgan will never let him live it down."

"No kidding. I told Fielder to go with Reid to the hospital."

"Good. Gresky and I will go try to find the man they saw. Do you know if they got a picture?"

"Reid tried but it was too dark and too far away to be helpful."

"Okay. We'll go see what we can find."

"Sounds good. I'll be here if you need me. But, Hotch, try not to need me, ya know?"

Hotch smiles. "I'll do my best. Promise."

"Good boy," she praises him and hangs up, hoping that will be their only excitement for the night.

* * *

Just before 1 a.m. Hotch and Gresky finally see the man they believe Reid and Fielder had been following. They get close to hear the end of his talk with two homeless men.

"…and there will be clean clothes and hot food. Please, think about coming to see us. We want to give you a hand up not just a hand out."

"And you think I believe in God when I am living like this?" One man challenges.

The suspect smiles at him. "I believe God sent me to you because he loves you and wants to see you change your lot in life. Please, consider coming to our mission. The doors are always open."

The homeless man tucks the flyer into his shirt. "Maybe. We'll see."

The suspect nods and stands. "Bless you both."

As he starts down the street Hotch and Gresky hurry to catch up with him.

"Sir," Hotch calls out as they close in. The suspect turns, eyes widening as he sees Hotch's credentials. "Agent Hotchner, FBI. This is Officer Gresky with the FDLE. Can we speak to you a moment?"

The man seems stunned but not nervous. "Uh, sure. Whatever I can do to help. I'm Clyde Parker."

"Can I ask what you've been speaking to people about tonight?"

The man nods. "Sure. I'm in the seminary and doing my turn at a local church-run shelter. But we can't just open the doors and expect people to come. We have to get out and speak to them, make them feel the love we have for them and all people. God speaks to them through his priests." He smiles and shrugs. "Maybe I'm naïve but I got the calling to serve Him late in life and just feel like…like he wants me to reach out to the undesirables in the world. I know some think I'm crazy but every couple of nights I come out to the streets and talk to all the homeless I can to try to get them to come see us. We offer clothes, food, even help applying online for jobs. We want people to get off the streets and into a real life." He reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out an index card. "Here's our information."

"On an index card?" Gresky questions.

Parker smiles. "Yep. Business cards are too small. Slips of paper end up as…well…toilet paper. Index cards last longer and are harder to lose."

Hotch nods. "Smart."

"Thanks. The priest wasn't thrilled about it at first because of the cost. Then he saw more people coming to the shelter and a few with the cards so he had to admit I might have been right. So, uh, why are you all interested in me, if I may ask?"

Hotch believes the man is just what he says and explains who the teams are out searching for. As he finishes, Parker frowns.

"You know, a couple guys were talking about someone quizzing them about giving them a long term job. But they said they had to be healthy, clean, and sober for it."

"Do you know who these men are? Or where we can find them?"

"One of them I haven't seen in a few days. Ryan is his name. Not sure of the last name. His friend, Jim, usually comes in for lunch everyday." He smiles proudly. "He tends to show up towards the end of lunch in case we have anything we need to get rid of before dinner is served. He thinks we haven't noticed the pattern."

"So you think he will be in tomorrow?" Hotch asks, finally feeling they may have a lead.

"Probably. I can call you if he shows up."

Hotch pulls out a business card. "That would be great. And if anyone else mentions this job with conditions call me on that, too. We think that is his ruse to get them in the car."

Parker nods. "I'll remember that."

"Thank you for your time. Sorry we suspected you at first," Hotch says.

Parker smiles. "No harm, no foul. God bless you for the work you do. May St. Christopher watch over you both."

Hotch smiles and nods. "Thank you."

After Parker moves on to continue his mission, Gresky look at the agent.

"Why let him go? If we take him in we can sweat him, maybe get him to tell us more."

"And we lose a valuable asset on the street. He's not out unsub but he has a rapport with these people. They know him and trust him. He can ask more questions than we can and not risk getting tagged like Reid was."

"Oh."

"But to be thorough," Hotch pulls out his phone. "JJ, I need you to start a background run on a Clyde Parker. He's in the seminary now but who was he before."

"Got it, Hotch."

Hotch hangs up and looks at his watch. "One more hour. Let's go."

* * *

By 2:30 all the teams except Reid's are back at the precinct. Hotch walks up to JJ.

"Word on Reid?"

"He and Fielder are on their way now. Doctor wouldn't release him until his pupils were dilating normally," she reports.

Hotch nods. "Good." He turns and sees everyone has taken a seat. "So, what did we learn tonight?"

Emily leans forward. "We spoke to several people who mentioned someone they just call 'The Reverend'. He gives them index cards and- -"

"That's old news, Agent. Keep up," Gresky mutters.

Emily slowly turns and pins the man with a glare. "Excuse me, officer?"

Gresky glares back. "Hotchner and I met him. He's a C.I. for us now. Keep up, lady."

Emily turns to her boss. "Hotch, what is the idiot talking about?"

Gresky leaps up. "What did you call me?"

Emily stands as Morgan and Rossi leap up between the two. Morgan holds his best friend back though he'd rather see her deck the jerk that had been a pain in their ass from the start.

"AGENT! OFFICER! SIT DOWN!" Hotch bellows.

Emily glances at her boss then slowly sits back down. Gresky stares at her, then glances at Rossi, who just raises an eyebrow. The younger man wisely sits down. Hotch addresses the group.

"Gresky and I met a man going through the seminary. He feels his calling is to help people get a hand up not a hand out." He tells them all they had learned about the reverend in training. "He agreed to let us know if he hears or sees anything while out fulfilling his mission." He glares at Gresky. "Since we hadn't told anyone that there was no reason Agent Prentiss could know."

Gresky just grunts as Emily glares at him. Hotch looks back to his agent.

"Is there anything else you learned?"

Emily shakes her head. "Nothing. Two of the men we have i.d.'ed were missed briefly by others but they just assumed the men had found a new place to live."

"Good. Rossi, what did- -"

"Oh, Spence!" JJ interrupts.

All eyes follow her to the doors as Reid and Fielder walk in. Fielder grins.

"You think Reid looks back you should see the other guy," he quips.

Reid's eyes have the tell-tale signs of pepper spray: red skin around them, the white's horribly bloodshot. JJ stands and takes his face in her hands.

"Gray hair, Spence. You are responsible for far too many on my head."

He grins. "Trust me when I say it wasn't my idea. She said she had info and instead sprayed me."

"Too trusting, Pretty Boy," Morgan tells him.

"Yeah, I guess so. So, um, did we get anywhere tonight?" he asks, hoping to get the attention off himself.

Hotch gets the debrief back on track. The only positive they take from this first night of trolling is getting Clyde Parker on their team. Hotch looks at his watch.

"It's nearly 3:30 and we'll be out again tomorrow night. Go home, get some sleep. My team be here at noon tomorrow." He looks at Lee. "Your guys?"

Lee nods. "Get with me by three tomorrow and I'll let you know what we'll be doing tomorrow night. I've talked to your commanders and you're cleared to report in at noon also. Good job tonight, guys."

Hotch nods. "Very good. See you all tomorrow."

Everyone stands and starts to gather their things. Gresky watches as JJ moves once more to Reid's side, rubbing his arm caringly as she confirms he really is okay.

"I remember when that woman sprayed me that time. Took forever for the stinging to stop."

Reid nods. "Yeah, it still stings a bit but not as bad as it had been. I'm okay." He takes her hand and squeezes it. "Promise. I'm really okay."

She smiles. "If you're sure. Just sorry it had to happen to you, Spence."

He chuckles. "Me, too."

As the two agents finish gathering their things, Gresky shakes his head. "Fucking slut," he mutters under his breath. "Pregnant by her husband and obviously having an affair with the geek. Or maybe it's the geek's baby. Just a damn slut."

"What the fuck did you just say?" Emily growls at him.

Morgan hears her and steps to her. "Em, leave him alone."

Emily steps towards Gresky. "Back off, Morgan. What did you say about JJ, Gresky?" she demands.

He straightens up. "Just doing a little profiling of my own, _Emily_," he replies snidely.

"Oh? And what did your pea brain tell you?"

"Agent Prentiss, stand down," Hotch orders, seeing a confrontation in the making…and knowing Emily will destroy the cocky officer.

Gresky steps into her face. "That's right. Stand down. Maybe you don't see what's going on in front of your face but I do." He glances at JJ and Reid. "Hope when they stop sexing each other up they can go back to just being partners."

JJ eyes widen. "When we WHAT?!"

Lee steps forward. "GRESKY! You're done. Don't bother showing up tomorrow and expect a rip in your file."

Gresky spins towards Lee. "You can't do that!"

"I just did," the detective answers icily.

Gresky shakes his head. "Fine. Play idiotic mind games with the Feds. Spend your nights with the scum of society. Do what the fuck you want while I do some real police work and find a killer. Just hope the slut doesn't try to sleep with someone other than the geek."

He storms out of the room. Emily starts after him but Morgan grabs her.

"No, Em," he says quietly.

"Derek he- -"

"I know. I heard. Don't lose your badge over him. He never got over JJ schooling him on profiling or the break-ups in his life."

Emily takes a deep breath and nods. "Right. Sure. Of course."

She steps away and finishes packing up her briefcase. JJ glances at Morgan and nods her thanks. Hotch walks up to Emily.

"He'll probably show up at some point and try to bait you. Don't take the bait, Prentiss. You're better than that."

Emily takes a deep breath. "Sorry, sir. I promise to try not to take the bait."

Hotch grins. "Glad you didn't out and out promise. I'd have figured you already had your revenge planned."

Emily chuckles. "No comment."

"Right. Get your wife and go get some sleep."

"Yes, sir." She takes her briefcase and goes over to her wife. "Ready to go? You and the nesters need to sleep."

JJ smiles. "I'm ready. We'll talk about the Neanderthal move later."

Emily blushes. "Yeah…kinda possessive but, honestly, I'd do it again. He just…just rubs me the wrong way."

"Me, too. Come on, guard dog, let's go back to the hotel."

Emily smiles and lets JJ lead her out. Hotch turns to Morgan.

"And I don't want you taking him out, either."

Morgan smiles. "Who? Sweet innocent me? Never, Hotch!"

Hotch laughs. "Yeah, right."

Soon everyone is on their way out to get some sleep and hope that the next day brings them the break they need.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Okay, I admit it. I squealed like a Bieber fan when I got the Tweet from CM that Paget was coming back. She had been teasing it on her Twitter and then I wondered when I heard the 200th would deal with that gap year (where we know JJ had contact with Emily) and that it would include old friends. Sooo excited to see where they go with it!**

**Alrighty-roo, fan girling done now. Back to the cannibalistic creepazoid. Enjoy!**

AR

* * *

Even though it is close to 4:30 before Emily gets into bed she is still up by 9 so she can get in a work out. Maybe if she wasn't still trying to build her right arm back up she would have stayed snuggled up with her wife but the thought that she needed to be 100% to protect JJ, the twins and her teammates make her keep to her rehab schedule. As she walks out of the bathroom, she sees JJ is cuddled up with the brunette's pillow. Emily can't help but smile at the serene look on the gorgeous blonde's face. She walks over and gives JJ a gentle kiss on the temple.

"I love you," she whispers.

"Um boo," JJ mutters, still asleep.

Emily chuckles. Looks like she's not the only one that can give a Pavlovian response. She heads down to the hotel workout room and starts with 15 minutes on the treadmill to get warmed up. She then moves to the universal machines, regretting that this hotel doesn't have individual weights, as well. She is just finishing a set of reps on her arms when the door to the room opens. She expects Morgan so she is surprised to hear a different voice. A very unexpected voice.

"I need you to tell my lieutenant that it was just a misunderstanding," Brian Gresky says.

Emily slowly lowers the weights and sits up on the bench, staring at the man in the room with her. He still wears the civvies he had worn the night before and looks like he hasn't slept yet.

"Why should I?" she asks.

"I saw what I saw. Not my fault you didn't like it. You're too close to the situation to see what's right in front of your face."

Emily's eyes harden. She had been willing to give the bastard a chance. "You have no idea what you saw. You are so off the mark it's ridiculous. To not even be apologetic for it tells me you have lost perspective, Officer. I won't tell your lieutenant a damn thing."

She lies back down, dismissing him…but not in any way forgetting he is there. She grips the bar and as she had expected he makes a move towards her. As he grabs for the bar she rolls off the bench, regains her feet and grabs him from behind in a choke hold.

"Listen, you stupid fuck, the only thing I will do is forget this stupid ass move on your part." He struggles but she puts more pressure on his throat and he stills. "Get the fuck out of here. Come near me or JJ or Spence or any member of this team again and you will _not_ be walking away. Got it?"

He just barely manages a nod. She shoves him away. The two glare at each other a second before he storms to the door and leaves. Emily sits back down on the bench and lets out a breath. A second later Morgan hurries in.

"Em! I saw Gresky bust out of here. You okay?"

Emily nods. "Never better." She grabs her towel and stands. "Just finished my work out."

She starts past Morgan and he grabs her arm. "Emily, don't lay that line of shit on me. What did you do to him?"

"What makes you think I- -"

"Don't try to play me. He was angry and embarrassed. You need to make sure someone other than you knows the story. And I doubt you want that person to be your wife."

Emily rolls her eyes, knowing he is right. She tells him what happened.

"So he didn't lay a hand on you?"

"Didn't give him the chance."

"Good. But watch your back, Em. He's a loose cannon and the suspension from the task force and whatever else may come down on him makes him very unpredictable."

Emily grins. "No he's not. He'll try something else. We both know that." Her eyes harden. "But if he tries anything with Jen or Reid, you better be close by to hold me back. Or at least stop me after the initial beating."

Morgan nods, serious. "I will be. Promise."

"Good. Let me go up and shower. The little woman will be awake soon," she jokes.

Morgan chuckles. "If she hears you call her that Gresky will have it easy. You'll be in a body cast."

Emily laughs, not at all denying that possibility. "See you later, Derek."

He nods. "Take care, Em."

* * *

As Emily showers off the sweat, she lets the water also wash away the left over tension from her confrontation with Gresky. He was a distraction that was not needed when a serial killer, most likely a cannibal, was at work. Hopefully Garcia has been busy and has plenty for them to look at before they go out again that night. A couple of them will also be going up to Lake Okeechobee to look at the dump sites. Considering what happened to her and Rossi in the Everglades she hopes it is Morgan and Reid's turn to go.

As she gets out of the shower and starts drying off she hears JJ moving around in the room. A second later JJ walks into the bathroom. Her hair is full of static and all over. Her eyes are barely open. Her face has pillow sheet wrinkles on it. She is scratching her stomach and looks amusing more so than sexy.

"Good morning, baby," Emily says.

JJ just grunts. Emily chuckles and walks up behind her. She rubs the baby bump.

"I promise, my sweet little babies, she isn't a Zombie Mommy. She just looks like it this morning."

JJ grunts again and swats her wife's hand. "Bitch."

Emily kisses her cheek. "I love you."

"Whatever. I thought you were going to work out this morning."

Emily laughs. "I did. Came back and showered."

"Oh."

Emily turns her wife and stares into her eyes. "Jen, why not stay here today? I know you'll want to be at the precinct tonight but maybe from here you could go over some of Garcia's reports and rest. Then you won't get so run down."

"Are you trying to coddle me? That will piss me off!"

"I am not trying to coddle you. I am trying to keep you and the nesters healthy. You know that, Jen."

JJ sighs and nods. "Yeah, I guess I do. Sorry."

"It's okay. You always get grumpy when you're pregnant."

JJ frowns. "I do not."

"Really? You don't?"

JJ thinks a second. "Well…maybe. But it's because I miss coffee not because of the babies."

Emily smiles and kisses JJ's forehead. "I believe that. Now, about my suggestion?"

"Let me…think on it while I shower."

"Deal, Mrs. Prentiss."

They share a quick kiss before Emily goes out to get dressed.

In the shower, JJ lets the hot water wash over her body. Her back was a bit achy and the shower feels wonderful. She considers what Emily is saying and knows she would rather be close to 100% while the team was out hunting than sitting in the precinct that day. Yes, she would stay at the hotel.

When she gets out, Emily is back in the bathroom applying her make-up.

"I'll stay here today. You're right, I'd rather be as rested as possible while you're out on the streets tonight, especially after what happened to Spence yesterday," JJ admits.

"Good. I am hoping Hotch will send Morgan and Reid up to the body dump sites. I'd rather go take a look at where the heads were left."

"Why?"

Emily sighs and shrugs. "I don't know. I just feel like the heads mean more to him than the bodies. I mean, the thighs mean the most but why cut off the head if he's just going to dump it, too?"

"Emily…could he…be dining with the head?"

Emily stops applying her mascara and turns to stare at her wife. "You know…that's a scary fucking thought. But it could be exactly what he is doing."

"And why doesn't that make me feel any better?" JJ jokes.

"Because it makes him ickier but us no closer to finding him."

"True. Maybe I can play some with the geographic profile. Perhaps something will leap out at me, especially now that we have a dump site for those that failed the blood test."

Emily nods. "Good idea. Are you going to eat here or join us in the diner?"

"I'll join you all in the diner in case Hotch wants me to look into anything else."

"Okay." Emily puts her make up down and turns to the naked beauty. "And Jen? Uh, if Gresky stops by, don't open the door to him."

"Gresky? Why would he drop by?"

"Well, you know, he got suspended. He may want to ask you to vouch for him or something."

JJ studies her wife then just raises an eyebrow. Emily sighs.

"Shit."

Emily tells her what happened downstairs. When she finishes, JJ shakes her head.

"Emily, promise me you'll tell Hotch. If you don't, I will."

"I'll tell him. Promise."

"Good. I'll deal with you later since you obviously weren't planning to tell me."

"No, I wasn't. And I still wouldn't have if you were going to the office with us. I just…don't want you to have any added stress. You and the nesters don't need it."

JJ pulls her wife close. "Thank you for caring. But don't do it again, understood?"

Emily gives her a kiss. "Understood. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Emily goes out to check email as JJ continues to get ready for her work from the room day.

* * *

In the diner, Hotch talks to JJ and agrees with her working from the hotel. Morgan raises an eyebrow and looks at Emily. She nods that yes, JJ knows about Gresky and will not open the door for him should he show up. Morgan nods in relief.

"Okay," Hotch says as he looks at everyone else. "Since Prentiss and Rossi have already had a fun road trip, Morgan, Reid, you two need to go up to Lake Okeechobee and check out the dump sites. What made them the right places for the bodies?"

"You know, Em and I were talking. Why does he take the heads off and dump them here in Miami? Is there significance to the dump sites or, and this is gross, does he keep them until he finishes eating them?" JJ asks.

Rossi raises an eyebrow. "Wow. As always I am awed by the sweet nothings you two talk about when alone."

Everyone chuckles.

"Good questions. Rossi, Emily go to where the heads were found and see what you can find. Snap pictures of the area and let's see if we can see some sort of connection to those sites and the lake sites. Maybe there is a strange connect to link the places."

"Will do," Emily agrees.

"Garcia has sent the results of the searches we asked for plus some that she came up with as those searches came through. JJ, you and I will be going over those. Any questions?"

"What time are we heading out tonight?" Rossi asks.

"We'll meet Lee and his team at the same time. Same teams with the exception of me. If Lee doesn't have another officer to take Gresky's place I'll decide at that time what to do. Any questions?" No one has any. "Then let's get a step closer to shutting this guy down."

The team finishes their early lunch. As she prepares to leave with Rossi and Hotch, Emily takes her wife's hand.

"Be safe. I love you."

JJ smiles. "Shouldn't I be the one telling you to be safe?"

Emily raises an unamused eyebrow. "You know what I'm talking about."

JJ sighs. "I know. I will be. Promise. I love you, too."

They exchange a quick peck and part. As JJ gets on the elevator, Hotch raises his eyebrow at Emily.

"My God, this team has a bunch of expressive eyebrows," Emily mutters.

"What was that about, Prentiss?"

"Nothing, Hotch. Hopefully. Just…trust us, okay?"

"Okay. For now," he agrees after a moment.


	10. Chapter 10

After they drop Hotch off at the station, Rossi and Emily take a tour of the dump sites. It is at their fifth stop that Rossi's curiosity gets the best of him.

"What's going on with JJ, Emily?"

Emily sighs. "Promise this is between us?"

"As long as I don't think you or your wife is setting your up in some sort of danger."

"Fair enough," Emily replies. She tells him about the confrontation with Gresky that morning.

Rossi shakes his head. "He needs some time off. He's getting stupid."

"I agree. I doubt he'll approach her at the hotel but, well, I made her promise not to open the door to him."

"Good. And if he really threatens her or the babies he will probably find out her prowess with a gun."

Emily grins. "Most likely. And if not he'll find out how dangerous I can be," she vows.

Rossi pats her on the arm. "Let's hope it doesn't come to either of those scenarios."

Emily nods and gets out of the SUV. She and Rossi make their way into the skate park where the fifth head was found. As they turn around studying it, Emily suddenly stiffens.

"Holy shit. I get it!"

"Care to share?"

"All these places so far are populated during the day. But I bet at night there are more homeless around. He's fucking returning the victim to where he found them! I bet if we can get more info on the men killed we'll find the areas they frequented alive is where they were found dead. Well, their heads at least."

"If that's true, he has to stalk them; know where to find them," Rossi concludes.

"Exactly. And if that's the case, someone had to have seen him. Rossi, we have to refine our questions. This guy probably has a victim now if that last blood test request is connected. If so, he's got to be planning on victim number 25."

Rossi nods. "I agree. The problem is we don't know who to ask about."

Emily rolls her neck. "Right. There has got to be something we are missing."

"Well, you figured out one thing. Let's go see if there is more to find."

Emily nods and follows Rossi back to the SUV. As he drives, she suddenly gets an idea and pulls out her phone.

"Garcia, I know this is a very long shot but is there anything that connects the victims other than they are homeless? Anything in their past?" Emily's eyes widen at the response. "Are you serious? Thirteen of them? Holy shit."

* * *

Due to an accident, it takes Morgan and Reid nearly 2 and a half hours to get to the first dump site on their list. During that time, Reid had regaled the older agent with trivia about that area of Florida.

And Morgan had managed not to shoot him.

When they get to the location, Reid immediately looks around. "No car tracks."

"Nope. Not even walking paths. It is unlikely anyone stumbles onto the body by accident."

"Exactly." Reid scans the information in his eidetic memory. "This was the seventh body. Of the first 6 only the first was greatly decayed. They were found quickly before time and predators could do a lot of damage."

"Then the killer got smart. I bet we'll find 8 through 23 have all been better hidden."

"I agree." Reid thinks a moment. "But the heads…the heads are easily found. Some are still frozen so they hadn't been outside long. The heads matter; the bodies don't."

"Nope. He harvests what he wants from the bodies then discards them. He holds onto the head. Why?"

"Respect? Thanks?" Reid tosses out.

"Thanks…" Morgan says, considering that. "Maybe that's it. Maybe…maybe if he really is eating them he holds onto the head so he can note what he sees in that person and use it to choose someone in the future. Like a particular eye colour tends to have better meat, or something."

Reid considers that and nods. "A way to help him choose not only a victim but maybe how to prepare the meat." He sighs. "I know we're trying to remain open-minded but there is no reason to take two such large chunks of meat unless he is eating them."

"I know. We all know."

"So think of this from a chef's perspective: he would make notes on his recipes on what worked, what didn't, new things to try. He's probably preparing them different ways. Using the physical markers of the face, he could associate certain traits with various success and failures in cooking."

Morgan sighs. "You know, that sounds sick enough to be a possibility. Here's another: what if he just stares at the head as he eats. He breaks bread with his victim."

Reid winces. "That's…that's also possible and probably sicker than my thought."

Morgan chuckles. "Yeah, it is." He stretches and starts back towards the SUV. "Come on. Let's get to the next area. There were 3 bodies found there, right?"

Reid nods. "Yes. And 3 here. Never more than 3. Hmm…wonder if that's a part of his m.o. or just a coincidence?"

"Well when we catch him you can ask him."

* * *

Nolan smiles as Ryan Steen waves to him.

"Hi, Mr. Nolan!" Ryan says excitedly. "I thought you weren't going to be back until the weekend? Does these mean we're having our special dinner soon?"

Nolan Temple smiles. "It sure does, Ryan. I finished up the editing earlier than planned. How's the fence coming?"

The simple-minded man gets even happier. "Almost done! I told you I was a good worker! Come see, Mr. Nolan."

"Ryan, no need to say 'mister'. Just call me Nolan."

"Yes. Okay. Fine, Mr. Nolan," Ryan agrees.

Nolan rolls his eyes. It was almost too easy with this guy. They walk over to where Ryan had been painting and repairing a stretch of fencing.

"I hung the boards just like you said, Mr. Nolan. And then I painted them and I was real careful not to drip any on the ground. See?"

Nolan nods, impressed. "Very well done, Ryan." He slides a knife out of his pocket. He frowns, pretending to study something. "But is that slat slightly warped at the bottom there?"

Ryan gets a concerned look on his face. "I hope not." He drops to his knees and bends over. "No, Mr. Nolan, it is- -"

Nolan grabs Ryan by the hair, yanks, his head back, and slices the man's throat. Ryan's last living thought is that Mr. Nolan will not be happy about all the blood on the freshly painted white fence.

Nolan waits until the blood stops spurting before walking over to the shed and getting a wheelbarrow. By the time he returns Ryan Steen is dead. Nolan gets him into the wheelbarrow and takes the body to the shed. He cuts off the man's clothes and hoists him upside down into the air. Whistling a happy tune he carefully cleans the body, paying close attention to the meaty thighs as the blood drips from the body.

"Nice, Ryan. I didn't think you'd have a lot of muscle tone."

He goes to a work bench and picks up a finely honed knife and returns to his prey. In less than 5 minutes he has four roasts, two from each thigh. As he carefully wraps them and places them in his refrigerator he is still whistling his happy tune. He uses the hoist to take the body up even higher. From his workbench he picks up a rotary saw and uses practiced, efficient methods to cut through skin, bone and ligaments to remove the head. He places the head in a gallon Ziploc bag.

"Well, Ryan, I hope you don't mind but I need to get rid of your body before we can dine together. I do so look forward to our special dinner, as you called it."

Within the hour he has the body cleaned up and is on his way north to Lake Okeechobee to get rid of victim number 24.

* * *

JJ is reading one of the reports from Garcia when there is a knock on her hotel room door. She rolls her eyes knowing it could only be one person and she had no plans to open the door for him. She carefully tiptoes to the door and looks out the peephole.

Yep, it's Gresky.

She backs away, muting her phone in case it rings as he pounds again.

"Come on, Agent Jareau. I know you're in there. I need a favour. Come on! Open up!"

JJ goes back to the desk and continues to read the reports. For five minutes Gresky knocks on the door, begging for her to open it; pleading with her to talk to his lieutenant on his behalf. Just when it seems like he will never leave, it stops. JJ waits a few minutes then carefully makes her way to the door. She checks through the peephole and looks up and down the hall as best she can. He seems to be gone.

"Good," she mumbles as she walks back to her desk. "Maybe the ass will take this chance to get his head screwed on right before Emily has to make the adjustment for him."

Down the hall, Gresky waits. He had been sure a woman would open the door and check the hallway. When it doesn't happen, he sighs. Maybe she really wasn't there.

* * *

"So, what did we learn today?" Hotch asks his team as they regroup at 5.

"Garcia made a major discovery," Emily says. "Thirteen of our victims are featured in a documentary that was filmed last year on the homeless. It is up for several awards. Garcia is running anyone mentioned in the credits and will then start looking into companies listed in the credits."

"That could be hundreds of people," Morgan points out. "And, just playing Devil's Advocate, is 13 people that significant?"

Rossi nods. "It is when you find out they only focused on 15 people. And of the other two one died of an AIDS-related illness recently and the other has Hepatitis C."

"What about people in the background?" Reid asks. "Have any of them become victims?"

"JJ is watching the documentary now to see if she can find any of the other victims," Emily tells him. "If she sees someone or even thinks she does, she'll get the frame info to Garcia to run through facial recognition."

"Very good. Morgan, Reid, what did the body dump sites tell you?"

"With the exception of his first victim, the first few dumps were easily found. After that, he found a way to get rid of them to allow time for the weather and predators to do damage and help mask the way they died."

"You know, that first victim really bothers me," Rossi asks. "Who is that guy? Why can't we i.d. him and why was he so badly decomposed? Both his head and his body were in bad shape. Why?"

As if in answer to his question, Garcia calls. Hotch answers his phone. "You're on speaker, Garcia."

"I FOUND HIM! It wasn't easy because there is so little to work with but I finally got a partial hit on the artists' rendering and matched it to the missing flyers and then his name popped in the documentary search and I called and he is still missing only I don't think he is because he is- -"

"GARCIA!" Hotch's third attempt finally quiets the analyst. "Garcia, take a deep breath." She inhales loudly. "Now let it out slowly." She exhales slowly. "Good. Now who are you talking about?"

"Victim #1. His name is, uh, rather, was Gene Ickles. He was a student at LSU and was working as a summer intern when the documentary was shot. He wasn't on the film crew but was working with the company that did the editing. He disappeared on his way back to Louisiana. His car was found in Mississippi so the search for him has centered on that state but it looks like he never left Florida."

The gathered agents consider this a moment. Finally Hotch nods. "Great job, Garcia. Get everything you have on him to JJ. She and Reid are flying to Louisiana to meet with his parents and friends to find out if he had any concerns about someone."

"On it, Bossman," Garcia acknowledges. "I'll get their flights booked."

"Reid, head to the hotel, get with JJ, get packed and get going. You may not be able to reach anyone tonight so plan to hit it first thing in the morning."

Reid nods and stands. "Got it."

As soon as he is gone, Hotch looks at his phone. "Garcia, I am assuming you're running the employees of the editing house?"

"Yes, sir. If anything leaps out at me you'll know after I do."

"Good job, Garcia."

"Pen, you'll be working late," Emily starts.

"Already booked my room at Hotel Prentiss, Princess," Garcia finishes.

Emily smiles. "Good."

"I will be in touch with you, my Avengers, when I have more for you. Garcia out!"

Garcia hangs up and Hotch looks at his team. "Let's get a bite to eat, get to the hotel to change and get ready for a night out. Someone had to have seen something somewhere. We have a little more information now. Let's use it to our advantage."

The team stands and gets ready to go. Emily looks at Hotch. "Uh, about dinner?"

He smiles. "Go say goodbye. Just make sure to order something filling from room service."

Emily nods, grinning. "Will do. Thanks, Hotch."

* * *

As soon as JJ had gotten the call from Reid, she had started gathering her things for the trip to Baton Rouge. She is not surprised when her wife walks in 30 minutes later.

"Gee, skipping dinner with the team?"

Emily smiles and pulls her wife into a hug. "Had to say goodbye to the prettiest, most important member of the team."

JJ leans back and smiles at the brunette. "Charmer."

"Always," Emily says, punctuating the statement with a kiss. She leans back. "So did Gresky come back?"

"Nope, just showed up that one time. Guess he figured I had been sent somewhere else."

"Good. I really don't feel like beating a local LEO."

JJ chuckles. "I am so glad you can avoid it, then." She rubs a hand over Emily's cheek. "Promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise. Promise me you won't become an LSU fan."

JJ laughs. "Promise." She sighs. "I love you, Mrs. Prentiss."

Emily leans her forehead against JJ's. "I love you, too. Take care of our babies."

"Always."

The two kiss again…and it turns into a full on make-out session until Reid knocks on the door.

"Jayje? You ready?" he calls out.

JJ sighs. "Guess I need to go hang out with my affair."

Emily chuckles. "Yeah, I'll let you know if that ever worries me."

She walks over and opens the door as JJ grabs her go bag and briefcase. "Keep her safe, Reid."

He smiles. "I was hoping you'd tell her to keep me safe."

Emily chuckles. "I did. Promise."

He laughs. JJ walks over and gives Emily a hug.

"I love you, Em."

"Love you, too. See you all in a day or so."

Emily watches as they walk down the hall and get on the elevator. With a last wave they are gone. Emily sighs and goes into her room. She is contemplating what to do when she gets a text. She smiles as she reads the message from her wife.

_"Emily, eat dinner."_

She quickly texts back. _"Was already ordering…as far as you know. :o) "_

"_Riiiiiight. Love you."_

_"Love you, too."_

Emily puts her phone down and does, indeed order dinner. The Comfort Special is just what is needed to help get her through the night.

That and a call to the two cutest kids on the world.


	11. Chapter 11

It is just after 12:30 in the morning. Emily and Warren Jackson had once again been frustrated in their quest to get information on the elusive unsub.

"Well, Jack, loving the ever so exciting part of detecting yet?" Emily jokes.

Jackson smiles. "It is definitely not this boring on TV."

"Of course not. They have to sell ad space and inspire crazy people to write fanfic."

Jack laughs. "True."

Before any more can be said, Emily's phone starts to ring. She glances at it but doesn't recognize the number.

"Prentiss," she answers.

"Hey, Agent Emily, most beautiful and generous cop ever!"

Emily smiles. "Hey, Stan, how you doing?"

"I'm doing great! And I got a reason for another $20 from you."

"Oh? Do tell."

"I was talking to Stinky Mo and he told me that the movie man been around offering jobs if guys is clean and healthy. Mo gots an infection so he ain't qualified but the movie man said if he gets better he could get the job, too."

"The movie man?" Emily asks, thinking it had to be another link to the documentary. "Do you know the movie man's real name?"

"No, Agent Emily."

"Was he the one that filmed the movie?"

"No, him came around after that looking for people to sign some forms and all. Said they needed them to release the movie. Took down peoples names and health and stuff. It was all legal like."

"I see. Did you fill one out?"

"No, I was just there when Binky signed his."

"Uh, do you know Binky's real name?"

"Nah but that would be on them forms."

"Have you seen Binky lately?"

"Yeah, he's here now."

"And where's here, Stan?" Stan gives him an address about 4 blocks away. "Great! You two stay there. Tell Binky there's $20 in it for him, too."

"Okay, Agent Emily. We be here."

Emily pockets her phone and looks at Jackson. "Let's go. We may have someone that has spoken with the unsub."

As they hurry the four blocks to meet up with Stan Stan the Whistling Man and Binky, Emily calls Hotch and tells him what is happening.

"Be careful, Prentiss. I'll get everyone to start asking about jobs being promised by someone connected to that movie."

"Right. I'll call you when I know something."

It takes nearly 15 minutes but Emily and Jackson arrive at the alley Stan had told her about. They carefully walk into the darkened area.

"Stan? It's Agent Emily. Are you there, Stan?"

There is no answer. Emily glances at Jackson. She can see how tense his face is. The hair on the back of her neck is standing up. Something isn't right. She slowly pulls her gun. Jackson sees her and follows her lead. Emily quietly leads him down the alley, checking all the dark corners she can see. A sound beyond a dumpster causes her to motion Jackson to wait. She carefully picks her path and approaches it. She silently counts to three then spins around, gun at the ready. Her eyes widen.

"NO!"

* * *

JJ had chuckled when she found out Garcia had already upgraded both her and Reid to first class for the flight. Reid smiles.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me. Thank the analyst who somehow has access to my credit card information."

"You really don't know how she has it?" he teases.

"Oh, I am not surprised I just didn't know she had it," JJ replies with a smile.

Once onboard the plane, they look over the information they had downloaded to their tablets. After reading it all, JJ sighs.

"He was a good kid."

Reid nods. "Yeah, he was. Strange that he's a business major and took a job at an editing house."

"An editing house in Miami," JJ points out.

Reid frowns. "Uh, what does that mean?"

JJ looks at him incredulously. "It's Miami, Spence." Reid looks at her, completely oblivious to what she is saying. "Oh, Spence, now I know what Morgan means when he says you hurt his head sometimes. Miami is a big time party city. Clubs, bars, celebrities, the beach. He probably took the job more for the fun in his free time than for the job. He was young and looking to have fun. Sadly, he didn't live to tell his friends how much fun he had."

"Do you think he told them anything about feeling like he was in danger?"

JJ shrugs. "I don't know. When we get to the hotel tonight let's see if Garcia has managed to hack his cyber life. If she has we'll know everything that he was feeling in the days leading to his death and disappearance." JJ looks up as the fasten seatbelt sign goes off. "In the meantime, time to run to the little agent's room. Nester 1 is punting my bladder."

Reid grins as JJ hurries to the rest room. He had been amazed to see certain changes happening faster this time around. As she walks he notices her ankles are very swollen. He might have to offer her an ankle massage or she was going to be very uncomfortable in the morning.

"I'll take care of her, Emily. Promise," he vows from afar.

* * *

Emily looks over her shoulder. "Jackson! Call for EMS!" She turns back to Stan, pulling off her jacket and pressing it to the wound in his stomach. "Stan, can you hear me? It's Emily."

Stan's eyes flutter open and he moans as she presses against his wound. "Agent Emily," he says weakly, trying to smile at her.

"That's right. Stay with me, Stan. I owe you $20 and I can't pay up if you don't stay with me."

He coughs, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. "He…didn't…mean it. Just…gots scared."

"Who didn't? Binky? Did Binky do this?"

Stan nods weakly. "He…gots scared," he says again. "He don't…mean…nothing…'bout it."

Emily smiles. "Okay. I'll remember that. Now save your strength, okay? You just hang on. I can hear the sirens, Stan. Just hang on until they get here and everything will be okay."

"Why you…care…?"

"Because you're my friend, Stan. And because you tried to do the right thing. So you hang on, okay?"

He smiles again as his eyes start to close. "Been…long time…since had…lady friend."

"Even more reason to hang on then. Got to hang on to enjoy it."

"Oh, Agent Emily…I done…enjoyed it…just fine…"

He lets out one last wheeze and his head lolls to the side.

"Stan…Stan…STAN!" She pulls him flat to the ground and starts to give him CPR. "COME ON, STAN! Don't you give up on me! Hang on! HANG ON, DAMN IT!"

Emily barely registers as EMT's suddenly appear to help her with Stan. Jackson helps her stand and back away as the medics get to work on the man. After a few minutes they have the homeless man on a gurney, their machines beeping but their actions saying they hold very little hope. As the ambulance pulls away, two police officers step forward to get a report.

"Fuck the report. We need to find a man that goes by Binky," Emily says. "He may have seen the unsub and he may have panicked and attacked Stan. We need him alive, officers. Let's find him."

Emily turns to go farther down the alley. She sees her jacket on the ground, soaked with the blood of a man who had wanted to help. She shakes her head and starts to move down the alley, looking for anyone who might be, or could point her to, Binky.

* * *

Nolan Temple smiles as he sets Paul Steen's head inside the freezer. "Something tells me you'll be the most delicious one yet, Paulie, old boy. However you won't be nearly as tasty as my final meal here in Miami."

He starts to whistle his happy tune as he goes to shower and get a few hours sleep before heading to his job. A client had specifically requested his editing on a film short. He was happy to do it, especially since he won't be in Miami much longer. He had already been approved to transfer to the New York office. By the time the FBI agents and cops had realized he was truly done in Miami he would be hunting in the Big Apple.

His only regret was he would be leaving the property of his uncle. A homestead grandfathered in when the Everglades became a National Park, its seclusion had been perfect. He could take a meal there, let them fatten up a bit, flush their system of alcohol, all while waiting for their blood tests. And when a few failed he'd had the beauty of the Glades themselves for dumping the unworthy ones.

"Yes, things were so perfect here. It will take so long to get set up again in New York. How the hell will I do it? I will have to hunt the city but take them outside the city. Maybe somewhere in upstate? Yes, that would be nice."

He sighs as he climbs into his bed. "And what of dear, dear Molly? How do I tell her it's over because she won't be the font of information I will need in another state? Maybe I'll make her a nice dinner. A nice roast and vegetables, maybe. I mean, not one of my good roasts. I'll make her something with, ugh, cow. No need to waste good meat on her."

He closes his eyes, a smile on his face as he imagines his future. A future in a fertile new hunting ground.

* * *

Emily and the officers with her give up their search for Binky just before 4 a.m. Instead of reporting to the precinct to meet up with the team, Emily goes to the hospital. She shows her credentials to the nurse at the intake desk.

"I'm looking for a stabbing victim that was brought in earlier. A homeless man named Stan."

The nurse looks at Emily's disheveled appearance, including the bloodstains visible on her red blouse.

"And you would be?"

Emily holds up the credentials again. "He's a material witness. Where the hell is he?"

"Hold your horses, Agent. Keep pulling an attitude and I'll have your ass thrown out of here."

Emily runs a hand through her hair and takes a calming breath. "Look, I'm sorry. The blood on me is his. Can you…can you just tell me if he's okay? Please?"

The nurse sighs and starts to type on her computer. The change that comes over her face tells Emily all she needs to know. The woman slowly turns compassionate eyes back to the agent.

"He coded, they tried to revive him but couldn't."

Emily's head drops. He had done as she asked and had died. Had he died because he was trying to help her? Or was it just a sick, sad coincidence? She lifts her eyes to the nurse.

"Thank you," she croaks out.

She turns and walks blindly out of the ER waiting room. Outside in the cool night she finds a bench and drops down onto it.

She is still sitting there just after 6 a.m. when Morgan, Hotch and Rossi arrive. They approach her, having already called the hospital and found out what had happened. Morgan sits beside her and puts his arm around her shoulder.

"Any word on Binky?" Emily asks in a monotone voice.

Hotch shakes his head. "Not yet. CSI's found the murder weapon. Busted glass bottle. Has a few prints on it so maybe we'll get lucky."

Emily grunts. "Hmph. Lucky. Right."

"Come on, kid. Let's get you back to the hotel to shower and sleep," Rossi says softly.

"No…we need…need to keep looking for Binky. He saw the guy and he knows…knows who he is," Emily says, her words slurring as exhaustion creeps up on her.

"Prentiss, we'll find him," Hotch promises. "You need sleep. We all do. Come on."

Emily wants to fight but just doesn't have the energy to do so. Morgan stands, pulling her up with him. He slips the keys out of her pocket and walks her to the SUV. He practically pours her into the passenger seat. As he drives he reaches over and takes her hand.

"It will be okay, Em. We'll find this guy."

"Maybe," she says. "Or maybe he killed Stan and took Binky as his next victim."

"I don't believe that."

"I can't help but believe it. Right now at least."

Morgan sighs and nods. "Yeah, I can understand that."

When they get to the hotel, Morgan walks her all the way into her room. He knew what she needed and knew she would only ever take it from two people: her wife and him. She goes into the bathroom and takes a quick, hot shower, pulling on sweats and tee shirt when she comes out Morgan is still sitting there.

"Uh, why are you still here?"

He stands and looks into her eyes. "Because my best friend needs to lose it. She needs to cry out her pain and frustration. And since her wife's not here I am here for her."

Emily looks away, hoping he doesn't see the tears welling up. "I, uh, don't need…I'm fine…I just…"

He steps closer. "Emily," he says softly. "Stop being the tough bitch you like to hide behind. It's me, Emily."

A sob escapes her mouth as she tries to deny what he is saying. He pulls her into a hug, leading them to the bed as exhaustion and sadness catch up to her. He lays them both down and holds her as she does, indeed, release the emotions she had been fighting so hard to contain.


	12. Chapter 12

JJ holds up her badge. "Mrs. Ickles? I'm Jennifer Jareau with the FBI. We spoke last night."

The woman with tear-reddened eyes nods. "I remember. Please come in."

JJ nods and steps in, Reid behind her. "This is Dr. Spencer Reid, also with the FBI."

The woman just nods silently and leads them back to a sitting room. A man, presumably Mr. Ickles, paces the room like a bull. Mrs. Ickles gestures to the couch.

"Please, sit down. Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you," Reid answers.

"What makes you think you found my kid?" the man blurts out.

JJ folds her hands together. "He was identified by computer software. Preliminary DNA tests have indicated he is your son. Further tests are being done but right now we do believe it is Gene."

The woman collapses down onto a recliner. The man stares at JJ, as if trying to intimidate her into changing the facts. He slowly leans up against the wall. The fury that had been fueling his pacing is extinguished by the compassionate look in the agent's blue eyes.

"He's our only child. You have to check again. You…you have to," he pleads.

"I wish I could, Mr. Ickles. What I can do is help the FBI and the FDLE bring the man that did this to justice. To do that, we need to ask you about Gene's time as an intern: who he worked with, anyone that made him uncomfortable, anyone he had trouble with."

"He had so much fun," Mrs. Ickles says, her voice dreamy, distant. "Others were young, like him. They would go to clubs, dance late into the night, and be back at work early the next morning. I warned him it sounded like he was burning the candle at both ends but he said you only live once. He had…he knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he made the most of it."

JJ nods. "I bet he did. So you don't remember him being wary of anyone? Or telling you about anyone that made him nervous?"

Mrs. Ickles shakes her head. "No. He was…he was having fun, Agent Jareau."

JJ glances at Reid and he sits forward, looking at Mr. Ickles. "Sir, did he mention anything to you? Something he might want to protect his mother from?"

Mr. Ickles glances at his wife, then back to Reid. "There was…this one guy. An editor. He never did anything to Gene but my boy just got the creeps around him."

"I see. The police in Mississippi said they released Gene's computer to you. Do you think we can log onto it and let our technical analyst check it out? He may have told his friends something that he didn't want to concern you with."

Mr. Ickles nods. "Yeah, it's this way."

Reid gets up to follow him, leaving JJ with Mrs. Ickles. The woman looks at the agent.

"I forgot my manners. Would you like some tea or anything?"

JJ smiles and shakes her head. "No, thank you."

"I see you're pregnant. How can you do this? How can you visit families with children knowing you have a child on the way?"

JJ rubs her stomach. "I actually already have a son and daughter. These two will make an even 4. And I do it because I want the world to be a better place for them. I want to know someone is fighting to stop these bad guys so that maybe some day my job will be obsolete."

Mrs. Ickles smiles. "I hope it happens for you. But even then…it will be too late…for me…" she stands as the tears begin again. "Excuse me."

JJ just nods as the woman hurries out of the room. She is still sitting there a few minutes later, studying the most recent sonogram of the twins when Reid comes in.

"Garcia has his cyber history. Mr. Ickles went to his wife and asked us to lock the door as we leave."

JJ stands, nodding. "Okay. Let's head over to LSU. We need to find Gene's friends and see what he told them."

The two agents leave, hoping to find someone who knew something more about the editor Mr. Ickles had mentioned or someone else.

"You know, if the editor did it, he drove that car to Mississippi. How'd he get home?" JJ asks as she drives.

"Good point. I'll call Garcia and see if anyone from the editing house had a flight or rental car back to Miami."

JJ just nods, hoping a student will give them a definite string to tug.

* * *

Morgan had lain with Emily until 8:30 when she finally cried and bitched herself to sleep. He knew she needed to get it out of her system and would now face the case with a clearer mind for having had the emotional outburst.

At 11 he goes back to her room to see if she is ready to head to the precinct. He knocks but she doesn't answer. He knocks again. He waits. Knocks once more. Still nothing. He pulls out his phone, an uneasy feeling in his gut. He calls and midway through the second ring it goes to her voicemail. He raises an eyebrow.

"Princess, what the hell are you doing that you sent me to voicemail?" he mutters. He hits another number.

"I thought you weren't speaking to me. I have been crying in my Monster," Garcia teases.

Morgan grins. "Silly girl, you know I could never stop speaking to you. Right now I need you to work some magic and find our princess."

"Emily?"

"Do you know any other?"

"I just…assumed you were with her."

Morgan frowns. "With her where?"

"She is looking for guys called Binky and Stinky Mo."

Morgan rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "I should have known. Binky may have killed her informant last night. Stinky Mo may have met the unsub recently."

"Well, she won't find Stinky Mo. I was just about to call her and tell her that was the a.k.a. for victim #22."

"Damn." He thinks a second. "Do me a favor? Patch me in as you call her. Don't tell her I'm on the line."

"Oh, sneaky, Morgan. You've been hanging with our spy too long."

Morgan chuckles as Garcia calls Emily. The agent answers immediately, pissing Morgan off a little more.

"What did you find, Garcia?" Emily asks.

Garcia explains about Stinky Mo. "Now, Binky, also known as Joe Schaub, tends to get panhandling and loitering tickets in a 2 block radius of where Stan was attacked last night."

"Good. I'm in that area now. I'll keep looking for him. He's our best lead."

"True. What time are you supposed to meet the others?"

"Shit!" Emily pauses. "Fuck. We're meeting at 11:30 for lunch and to plan the day. I lost track of time." She thinks a second. "I'll call Morgan and tell him where I am. Maybe he can come meet me and we can continue to track down Binky."

"Count on it, Princess," Morgan replies.

There is a big pause. "I'm fucked, aren't I?" Emily finally says with resignation.

"Oh, yeah. Woman, what the hell are you doing tracking down someone that may have killed your informant?"

Emily sighs. "I couldn't sleep. Figured this was more productive than staring at the ceiling."

"If you get so much as a splinter before I catch up to you I'll kick your ass. And that's not to mention what your wife will do to you."

"Uh…shit…you going to tell her?"

"Damn right I am! No way am I risking her wrath," he confirms.

"Shit. Fine. I'll be here. And I'll tell Jen myself tonight. I swear."

"I'm holding you to that. Now stay where you are until I get to you. If you don't, I'll kick your ass."

Emily nods. "I'll stay here. I promise. And, Garcia, I'll get you for this."

"Sorry, Princess, my God of Chocolate Thunder outranks you. Had to follow orders."

Emily chuckles. "Yeah, because you never skirt the line."

"Oh, Princess, never!"

"Right. Thanks for the help, Garcia."

"Anytime, Emster."

"Thanks for your help, Baby Girl."

"No problem, my love. Tootles!"

She disconnects the call and Morgan heads out, calling Hotch as he goes to tell him what is going on. Hotch rolls his eyes.

"Tell her we'll be having a talk about protocol next time we meet."

Morgan grins. "She hates protocol."

Hotch smiles. "I know. Make sure you use that word."

Morgan laughs. "You're a cruel man at times, Hotch."

Morgan hangs up and takes one of the SUV's down to meet up with Emily. He parks in a public lot nearby, seeing her SUV is there already. He makes his way to the corner where Emily should be waiting for him but she isn't there. He frowns and checks a couple of stores but she isn't there. He calls Garcia.

"Garcia, where the hell is she?" he asks in frustration.

"Uh…she is…" Garcia pauses, frowning. She types again. "Morgan, according to this she should be, like, right beside you."

Morgan's stomach does a flip. "Where?"

"Walk down the alley about 10 feet or so," Garcia answers.

Morgan studies the alley. There is nothing between him and a dumpster about 25 feet in. He starts to walk down the alley.

"Garcia, use another line and call her phone."

Garcia quickly complies. Morgan's heart leaps into his throat when he hears it start to ring. He follows the sound and kicks some trash off of the device.

"Garcia, call Hotch. Her phone is here and there's blood on it."

"Oh, my God!"

Morgan disconnects and calls Lee to get a CSI team to the alley. He is looking up and down the alley for any sign of his partner. He starts to walk farther down the alley. By the time he reaches the end he knows she is not there and there is no further sign of where she could be. Morgan looks down as his phone rings. He sees it is his boss.

"No sign of her, Hotch."

"Morgan, we're three minutes out."

"Could it be the unsub? Was he talking to Binky and she found them?

"If so he most likely took her to try to find out what she knows," Hotch points out.

"Probably. But just in case I'm looking for her."

"Good. I'll…I'll call JJ."

"Right. See you in a few."

Morgan carefully walks the full length of the alley again but still can't find any sign of Emily or the unsub.


	13. Chapter 13

Hotch takes a deep breath as he stares at his phone. Just before he hits send, it starts to ring. "Fuck. It's JJ," he mutters to Rossi. The older agent looks sorry for his boss. "JJ."

"Hotch! Why the hell is a Miami ER calling me about Emily?"

Hotch frowns. "An ER? What ER?"

"Coral Gables Hospital emergency care. They said she was dropped off by her partner but he left before getting all her information to them. They found my information on the emergency contact card with her credentials. Why the fuck did Morgan drop her off?"

"He didn't," Hotch tells her. "We have no idea who did I am on my way there now." He looks at Rossi. "Call Morgan. Tell him someone dropped Emily off at Coral Gables hospital. It's pretty far from our search zone."

Rossi rolls his eyes and pulls out his phone. Hotch turns his attention back to JJ.

"JJ, I swear I have no idea what is going on. As soon as I do, I will call you."

"Okay. They said she is unconscious and has a bruise and abrasion on her forehead."

"Damn. I swear, JJ, I will call you when I know anything."

"I'm counting on it, Hotch."

Hotch disconnects and looks at Rossi. "What did Morgan say?"

"Lee and a tech team just got there. The one thing that is odd to everyone is the fact that there are no homeless in the alley when normally 4 or 5 are there during the day."

"Shit. So something disrupted them and made them scatter. Unsub?"

Rossi thinks a second and shakes his head. "I don't think so. He might have taken Emily but I think it is more likely he would have avoided her. He couldn't care less what we know otherwise he'd have injected himself into the investigation."

"True," Hotch agrees as they pull up in the red zone at the hospital.

He flashes his badge to the security guard, knowing there is plenty of room for official vehicles to get by. They hurry in and ask where they can find Emily. As they are directed back to her treatment cubicle, the both sigh in relief when they hear her bitching.

"The only things I need are a couple of aspirin and a band aid. Now let me up, damn it!"

Hotch and Rossi step past the curtain. "You'll stay in that bed until the doctor releases you, Agent," Hotch states.

"Hotch! I'm fine. Just pissed," she insists.

"I'm pissed, too. What the hell were you doing investigating alone?"

"I was just looking for Binky and Stinky Mo. Mo is dead. Binky frequents that area but it was strange. No one was around."

"So Morgan said. It was like that when you arrived?"

"Yes. No one in that alley at all except that fuck Gresky."

"Gresky? He did this?"

"Yeah. I told him he was off the investigation and to just leave. I pulled out my phone to call and get Morgan's ETA. I heard movement and turned as he grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head into the wall. He kept blaming me and JJ and the whole team for his suspension. I did some damage to him but I guess he finally got the right hit in and knocked me out."

"Sounds like he also brought you in so he knows he fucked up," Rossi said.

"Of course this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't gone off alone," Hotch points out.

Emily sighs. "I know. I just…thought…I wanted…" She takes a deep breath. "I asked Stan to call me, to work with me. And he ended up dead. Guess I feel I owe it to him to find these guys…well, guy now and see what they know so I can bring his killer to justice."

"And what if is killer was one of them? What if they were schizophrenic or otherwise mentally unstable and went after you?"

"I…didn't think of that. Or maybe I did and ignored it. Shit, Hotch, I'm sorry. I just wanted to ask around before heading to the precinct to prepare for tonight."

"You'll be written up for this. Count on that," the chief warns her.

"I know."

"And even worse: the hospital found your emergency contact card."

"Oh, fuck…"

"And they called your wife."

Emily runs a hand through her hair. "Uh, any chance I can get protective custody?"

Hotch grins. "No." He hands her his phone. "Call her while I see what needs to happen to get you out of here."

"Thanks." She takes a deep breath and calls her wife.

"Hotch! Is she okay?"

"It's me, Jen. I'm fine," Emily says.

"Thank goodness." There is a brief pause. "What the hell were you thinking going off alone?"

"I just wanted…answers for Stan."

"Stan? What are you talking about? Who's Stan?"

Emily pinches the bridge of her nose, her headache having only a little to do with her injury. She explains what happened overnight and stresses she just wanted to find the two homeless men who may have talked to the unsub.

"It was dumb, in retrospect. But it wasn't them who hurt me."

"Who was it?" JJ presses.

"Uh…I'm not sure I should say. You'll kill him."

"Gresky," JJ growls.

"I never said that!" Emily quickly states.

"And you didn't deny it. I'm going to kill him."

"Jen, something tells me he's got a lot more to worry about than us."

"Trust me, Prentiss, I am his biggest worry," JJ says angrily.

Emily can't help but smile. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Jen, I swear, other than a headache and a little bruise I am okay."

"I'll trust you for now. But next time I see you if I think you downplayed the injury I reserve the right to get mad again."

Emily chuckles. "Deal, Mrs. Prentiss. I love you."

"I love you, too. Now I need to go. A bunch of frat boys want to show me something special."

Emily raises an eyebrow. "You're just saying it that way to make me crazy."

"Yep. Working?"

"Hell yeah."

JJ laughs. "Good. Talk to you later. I love you."

"Love you, too."

Emily hangs up and looks at Rossi. "Morgan says he gets you one on one in the sparring ring," the Italian agent tells her.

Emily nods, smiling. "Seems fair."

* * *

Forty-five minutes later Emily, Hotch and Rossi walk into the precinct. Morgan glares at his partner. Emily raises her hand to stop his rant.

"I'm an ass. I know. Sorry isn't enough."

"Damn right it's not. I nearly had a fucking heart attack, Em. I thought…thought that cannibalistic bastard had you."

Emily nods. "I know. I'm sorry. I swear, Morgan, I didn't even think about him. I just wanted to find our witnesses."

Before he can yell at her some more, his phone rings. He pulls it off his hip. "Talk to me, Baby Girl."

"I think I know the unsub!"

"What?!" Morgan puts her on speaker and tells Hotch to shut the door. "You're on speaker with us. Go."

"So the cross check with the companies involved in the documentary and the like crimes hits led me to one name: Nolan Temple. Additionally, as soon as I started looking into him, his name popped again, this time against my list of people who had flights back from Mississippi to Miami around the time Gene Ickles' car was found."

"Nice work, Baby Girl!"

"Garcia, where are the like crimes?"

"Los Angeles. Three years of murders, thighs excised, while Temple was working at an editing house associated with the one in Miami. He transfers here, murders start again."

"What's his address?" Rossi asks.

"Here's the problem: his address in Miami is a high rise apartment. No way could it be where he kills his victims."

Hotch can't help but smile. "Nice job…profiler."

"Oooh! I hate when you all call me that just because I have been hanging around with you all long enough to pick up on things!"

"Sorry, Garcia. Call JJ and Reid. When they finish at LSU they need to go to L.A. and talk to the detectives out there."

"On it, sir."

"Good work, Garcia."

"Thanks, sir. Garcia out."

Hotch looks at his team. "Morgan, Emily go see Temple."

Even Emily seems surprised she is being sent. "Uh, me, sir?"

"Yes, you. I trust you not to ditch Morgan again. Morgan, if she tries, use your cuffs."

Morgan grins. "Yes, sir. Let's go, Princess."

As they are getting ready to leave, Lee walks into the room. "Have two bits of news for you, agents. Number 1," he looks at Emily, "Gresky showed up with his lawyer and turned himself in for the incident this morning. He's admitting to the attack and that he's been drinking too much lately as well as using non-prescription steroids. He's been suspended pending a full investigation."

Emily nods. "Good. I hope he gets the help he needs."

Lee nods. "Secondly I have a report back from the lab: first indication is that the blood on your phone isn't yours or his."

Emily frowns. "I…I figured it wasn't mine. I just have a minor abrasion. When I heard there was blood on my phone I thought maybe I got a lucky strike in on him."

"Nope. They are running more screens on it to double check it doesn't belong to either of you and to run it against anything else in the databases."

Emily tilts her head thoughtfully. "See if you can get a subpoena to get the samples from the clinics and the VA for the full screen blood tests."

Lee nods. "Good idea. It should tell us if the sample on your phone is a potential or known victim. I'll get on that now."

"Uh, any idea when I'll get my phone back?" Emily asks.

Lee shrugs. "They didn't say. Hopefully by the time we go out tonight."

Emily nods. "Hopefully."

"Come on, Em, let's go chat with Temple or his co-workers. If nothing else, maybe it will spook him and get him moving so we can follow him."

Emily nods and follows Morgan out of the room.

* * *

Nolan lets the shot run at full speed. He then slows it down, manipulates it slightly, and then takes it back to regular speed. He shakes his head, just not liking that particular sequence. He cues up another angle of the same shot. After manipulating the speed he smiles, liking what he sees. He saves it to the working digital file to show to the client. As he cues up another sequence, another screen pops up. He smiles at the feed of his home security camera.

"Molly, Molly, Molly…what have I told you about dropping by uninvited?"

He watches as she carries a couple bags into the kitchen. It looks like she is planning to surprise him with a decent dinner. He grins. Originally he had been planning to send her away. Now…now he decides to have some fun instead. Especially since she has left her purse, which will have her gun in it, on the table by the front door.

In the kitchen, Molly is carefully pulling out items for a special dinner. She had seen Detective Lee earlier and was pretty sure they were closing in on the killer. He doesn't know who it is but the agents had seemed hopeful about a couple of potential suspects.

She pulls out a bottle of white wine to go with the Chicken Marsala she is planning to make. It would not be chilled in time for dinner if she just put it in the refrigerator for a while. She walks over and opens it up the freezer door. It takes her a second to realize what she is seeing.

The bottle of wine thumps to the ground.

"Oh my God."

"Hello, dear."

Molly spins around and stares at the man leaning casually against the doorframe. "You…you…you…"

"You have been so nice to let me know what's going on and when it's going on. I see you've met Ryan."

Her hand goes to her hip but her gun is not there. Nolan holds up her service weapon. "Looking for this? You are always so good about leaving it in your purse by the door. After all I am so, so scared of violent weapons," he taunts.

"You…you can't be…"

"Oh, but I am."

"Wh- -why?"

"Oh, Molly, there is nothing tastier than human cooked just right."

Her hand goes to her mouth. "Have…oh, God…did I…"

He chuckles, amused. "No! No, I would never waste such a divine treat on someone who wouldn't appreciate it. No, the nights we had steak it was, ugh, cow." She looks only slightly relieved. "Now, the question is, what shall I do with you? Almost seems a shame to waste your meat but I just don't like to eat women. Too stringy, really."

Molly swallows, finally getting past the shock. "I…Nolan, I can help you. You're…you're sick. That's all. Come with me to the station and I can get you the help you need to get past this…this sickness."

"But, Molly, dear, I don't think I'm sick. Nice of you to offer though."

"Let me- -"

Her words are cut off as he fires, putting a bullet right in her heart. The fear on her face turns to shock as she crumples to the ground, her face finally registering nothing as dead eyes stare up at the ceiling. Nolan sets the gun on the table and fetches the wine from where it had rolled. He studies the label.

"Oh, I like this one." He opens the freezer. "Get this cold for me, Ryan, will you? Thank you."

Whistling a happy tune, Nolan goes back to his home studio and continues to work on the music video for a local DJ.

* * *

Reid and JJ had talked to Gene Ickles' frat brothers and several of his classmates and professors. No one had ever heard that he was concerned with anyone he worked with while in Miami. The trip to Louisiana had been mostly a bust. Only his father had known about his concerns.

JJ hangs up from talking to Henry and Rocky. She decides she doesn't like the look on Reid's face.

"What?"

"We're going to Los Angeles?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope. There was an editor that worked on the homeless documentary that was in L.A. during a spate of murders that included excised thighs," he explains.

"So why the hell didn't L.A. ever call us in?"

"According to Garcia the police decided it was a drug cartel thing. They notified the DEA and left it at that."

"Oh, for fucks sake. When do we leave?"

"Flight takes off in 2 hours."

"Hope the Bureau enjoys the frequent flyer miles," JJ mutters as she and Reid make their way to their car for the drive to the airport and the next leg on this unexpected cross-country journey.


	14. Chapter 14

Morgan holds up his credentials. "Hi, I'm SSA Derek Morgan, this is SSA Emily Prentiss with the FBI. We need to speak to Nolan Temple, please."

"Nolan is working from home today," the office manager tells him.

"I see. Is his supervisor here?"

"Sure. Let me call her for you." She picks up her phone. "Nancy? There are a couple of FBI agents here to ask you about Nolan." She hangs up. "She'll be right out."

"Thanks," Emily says, glancing around at the framed pictures of celebrities they had worked with and awards that their editors had been a part of winning. "Morgan, come take a look at this."

Morgan walks over and looks at the picture she is pointing to. "What is it?"

"Read the caption."

_"Nolan Temple, Sr. receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences. Also pictured, his son Nolan Temple, Jr."_

"So, his daddy was an editor, too. Wonder what other things were passed on to his son," Morgan whispers.

"Father-son cannibals? Crazier things have happened."

"Uh, Agents?" Morgan and Emily turn to see an older lady that was in several pictures. "I'm Nancy Heder. I understand you have some questions about Nolan Temple."

"Yes. Is there somewhere we can speak privately?"

"Uh, sure. Right this way."

She leads them down the hall to a conference room. Once the door is closed, Emily starts.

"I saw you in several pictures out there. You've been with this company a while."

"Since college. Started out as a glorified gopher and worked my way up to editor and now I run this office. We have offices in LA, New York, London and Auckland."

"Very impressive. Have you worked with both Nolan Temple's?"

"Yes, actually. Nolan Sr recently retired to this area. He has a homestead out in the Glades. Some sort of place grandfathered in when the National Park was established."

_"Two Nolan Temples. Two thighs. Interesting_," Emily thinks to herself. "Is that why Nolan Jr came down here?"

"Partly. But he also had some issues with a couple of people in L.A. so it was just time for a change for him."

"I can understand that."

"Do you know if Nolan is having any issues here in Miami?" Morgan asks.

"None that I know of. Um, can I ask why you are asking about Nolan and his father?"

"Just following up on some information that was passed on to us. We do need to ask you not to mention our visit if you see him or speak to him," Morgan cautions her.

"Of course not. Should…I be worried, Agents?"

Emily smiles sincerely. "No, ma'am. You are perfectly safe." The woman looks relieved and Emily can't help but think. _"Be glad you don't have a Y chromosome."_

Morgan and Emily leave the editing house to drive to the address Garcia had dug up as being Nolan Temple's. When they arrive the exchange a look of frustration.

"I'll call Garcia," Morgan offers.

"I'll call Hotch," Emily says, digging her personal phone out of her pocket. "Hotch, we spoke to Nolan's boss and he is working from home today. So we are now at his address but it's a vacant lot."

"Damn it," Hotch mutters.

"It gets better. Hotch, his father, Nolan Temple, Sr. was also a film editor out in L.A. and he has recently retired somewhere around the Everglades. Morgan's calling Garcia to see if she can find anything on Senior that can help us find Junior."

"Good. Call JJ and Reid to let them know about the father. They need to ask about him, too. This does answer a question I had about the L.A. murders."

"What question?"

"How there are some tagged as related that go back 30 years."

"Holy shit…they _are_ father-son cannibals."

"Most likely," Hotch says. "But I don't think Senior is as picky about man or woman considering the bodies in California."

"Damn."

Morgan taps Emily's arm. "Garcia has a second address. Temple can't hide from the utility companies."

"Hotch, we have a second address for Temple. We'll go check it out."

"Be careful. If he's working from home he could be willing to- -what Rossi?" Emily hears Rossi saying something the Hotch sighs. "Prentiss, a headless corpse was found an hour ago at the lake."

"Son of a bitch. Ryan Steen," she guesses.

"Probably," Hotch agrees. "Rossi and I will head up that way to get a look at the dump site. Watch yourselves."

"We will. We'll be in touch." Emily hangs up and puts her phone in the glove compartment where it should be safe. She tells Morgan about the body.

"Damn," Morgan mutters. "And we don't have probable cause to demand entry."

"Nope." Emily thinks a second. "What if…what if we say it's about something else? Maybe someone suing regarding a documentary he was part of? We just have a few questions about missing releases?"

Morgan nods. "Sounds good. Once we're in we can take a casual look around and maybe even see if we can ease in a few probing questions about the murders."

"And we can see if tries to season you for a later meal," Emily teases.

Morgan laughs. "You are so not right in the head, woman."

* * *

JJ gets off the phone with Garcia and smiles at Reid. "Well, we were so close, Spence, but we still don't have an evil twin case for you."

"Oh, what do we have?"

"A possible father-son cannibal case."

Reid raises an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

JJ nods. "Seriously." She gives him the rundown on the cases they are going to look at. "Seems like some detective somewhere just figured it was easier to blame drug runners than believe there could be some other serial mind at work when the killing went on for so many years."

"That is a lot of dead men."

"Not just men. Seems some of the older killings are women, too."

"So the father introduces his son to cannibalism." Reid thinks a moment. "Wonder what happened to the mother?"

JJ blanches. "Oh, something tells me we don't want to know." That said, she calls Garcia. "Garcia, what happened to Mrs. Temple?"

Garcia slides to another computer and starts to type. "She is…no where." She types some more. "Last time she makes a blip is when she renewed her driver's license in 1986." She types some more. "And three of the bodies you all are going to investigate are from the late 80's and are unidentified."

"That's just sick. Thanks, Pen." JJ hangs up and tells Reid. "Spence, can you imagine the book Rossi will be able to write about this case if all our theories pan out?"

Reid grins. "He better give us a cut of the profits."

JJ laughs. "Exactly! Come on, I'll buy you a coffee flavored cup of sugar and creamer before our flight."

Reid nods and follows her down to the Starbucks by their gate.

* * *

Morgan and Emily pull up outside the apartment and look it over. It is not high end, it is not low end. It is smack dab middle class. No one will see anything they don't want to see. Morgan looks at Emily.

"You ready?"

"Are you, Scrumptious?" she asks back.

He laughs, opening his door. "I said it before and I'll say it again: not right in the head."

Emily laughs and gets out, following him into the building. They take the elevator up to the fifth floor. Midway up, Emily stoops down.

"Morgan…is this blood?"

Morgan crouches down and nods. "Yeah. Could be from someone else."

"Maybe." They stand. "I'll keep my fingers crossed it's unrelated."

They get out on 5 and make their way to the apartment of Nolan Temple. They both pause at the same time when they see the door to the apartment is ajar. They move carefully forward. Morgan taps on the door.

"Mr. Temple? Are you in there?" He waits a moment, then taps again, this time making sure the door swings open a little more. "Mr. Temple? My name is Derek Morgan and I have a few questions for you."

Emily leans towards her partner. "Morgan…I smell blood," she whispers.

Morgan nods. "Mr. Temple, we are coming in to make sure everything is okay."

The agents pull their guns and step through the door. Morgan gestures that he will walk down the small hallway towards the bedrooms and Emily should make her way to the kitchen. Emily nods and starts that way, pausing to clear the closet. She walks on, stepping quickly into the kitchen to make sure it is empty. It is…

…except for the body of Molly Whitten.

"Oh, Whitten," Emily whispers as she squats to make the required but unnecessary check for a pulse.

She stands and makes her way back to the entry. She is surprised and concerned that Morgan as not reappeared yet. Her gun at the ready, she starts to move slowly down the hallway, staying to the edges of the floor to avoid creaks. She clears the first room she comes to: the bathroom. There are two more doors. Both are closed.

She gets to the first and carefully turns the door handle. She throws the door open and quickly steps in, sweeping the room. It is empty. In fact, it shows signs of having been packed up rather quickly and haphazardly. Not a good sign. She takes a deep breath and moves to the last room. Morgan is in there and it can't be good. She slowly turns the door handle.

"Come on in, Agent Prentiss, I believe," she hears a man call out.

Emily slowly opens the door, her gun at the ready. Her heart catches in her throat as she sees Morgan, blood running down his forehead, on the floor of a home editing office. His hands are cuffed behind his back and his own gun is held to his temple.

"Drop your gun, Agent Prentiss, or he will suffer a terrible case of lead poisoning."

"I can't do that, Nolan. Our boss knows we're here. You can't get away."

"He'll know you're missing in, what? A couple hours. By then we'll be on our way to the homestead. Now put your gun down, Agent." He punctuates the order by cocking Morgan's gun and pressing it hard enough into the agent's temple to make him moan.

"I…I can't…" Emily tries to will her best friend to wake up.

"Put it down and you save not only him but your friend, Binky." Emily's eyes narrow. "I took him when I killed that annoying busy-body Stan. Put your gun down, come with me while I make my escape, and Binky lives."

Emily sees Morgan's eyes start to flutter. Unfortunately Nolan seems to feel the agent waking, too. He quickly lifts the gun and slams it back down into Morgan's head.

"No!" Emily screams. "Please don't. Please." Emily takes a deep breath. _"They know about the homestead. They know that's where we'll be going,_" Emily tells herself. "_Stay alive, Emily. Stay alive for your wife and kids._"

She slowly lowers the gun to the ground and stands, her hands in the air. Nolan grins and tosses her a roll of duct tape.

"Your hands behind your back, please."

Emily swallows and tears off a long strip. She turns so he can see she is complying and tapes her wrists together as best she can.

"Well done, Agent Prentiss. Now," he gestures to a large electronics crate on wheels. "Inside. I was going to use it to get rid of Molly but I think it would be better to take you."

Emily shivers, reminding herself that he doesn't eat women, as she steps into the box and sits down. It is a tight, claustrophobic fit. Nolan lifts up the tape roll Emily had dropped and pulls off a strip. He presses it to her mouth to make sure she can't call for help. The fit is so tight there is no way she can kick or bang to get attention. He smiles at her.

"Oh, Daddy is going to love you. It's been so long since he had a woman to eat. I prefer men so he has to settle for men. He'll love your fresh meat."

Emily's eyes widen as he slams the lid closed and locks it. She tries to get her hands loose but there is no room to do anything in this box. She hears as a few things get stacked on top of her prison. Within five minutes she is being rolled out of the apartment.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So…does the unsub have Emily right where he wants her? Or does Emily have him right where SHE wants him? (cue evil laughter here!)**

* * *

Hotch and Rossi stare at the dump site. "This isn't right," Hotch notes. "The first ones were hurried like this. Later dump sites where hidden to give time for forensics to be compromised. This is too…open."

Rossi nods. "I agree."

That said they move closer to check out the scene against the pictures of the other dump sites. It doesn't take them long to see that this scene is the work of their unsub but it is a departure from the previous few scenes. Rossi shakes his head.

"He's cutting ties to the area with this one. How the hell does he know we're closing in?"

"Shit, Rossi, we're not even 100% sure Nolan Temple is our guy. Let's see what Prentiss and Morgan found." He pulls out his phone and hits redial for Morgan. When voicemail picks up, he hangs up and tries Emily's personal phone. Also no answer. He frowns. "I don't like this." He calls Garcia. "Garcia, where are Morgan's work phone and Emily's personal phone?"

Garcia starts to type. "Let's see they are…at the address I found for them by tracking utility bills. Emily's looks to be in the SUV while Morgan's is in the building."

"And both are working correctly?"

"Yes. Why are you asking that, Hotch?"

"If they move, call me," Hotch answers and hangs up. He next calls Lee, who had stayed in Miami. "Lee, I need you to go to Nolan's apartment. I think my agents may be in trouble."

"On it, Hotch."

Hotch hangs up. "It took us an hour and half to get up here. They were there as we were getting out of the city."

"That gives Temple at least an hour ahead of us if he was there when they arrived," Rossi finishes.

"He was there. And he's done something to Morgan and Emily."

Neither man wants to say the words. He probably has Morgan. Emily would mean nothing to him. If he has Morgan, Emily is dead. They hurry back to their SUV. Rossi punches in the location of the homestead in the Everglades.

"You think he'll go there?"

"Where else? He's not going to stay at that apartment now. He'll go to the homestead. He'll take…he'll go there to harvest…to…Fuck, I can't say it," Rossi trails off.

Hotch just nods. He understands. It is 10 minutes later that Hotch's phone rings. He tosses it to Rossi since he's using both hands on the steering wheel due to the speed he is driving.

"Lee, you're on speaker," Rossi says.

"Hotch, he's gone. Molly Whitten is in his kitchen, dead. I think she was dating the motherfucker."

"Son of a bitch," Hotch mutters. "So he probably knew everything we did. That's why he's running. My agents?"

"I've got an ambulance on the way."

"She's alive!" he blurts incredulously.

"Whitten? No, she's dead. But Morgan is here and unconscious. Has a bad- -"

"Morgan?! What do you mean Morgan? Where's Prentiss?"

"She's not here. Found a gun on the ground we think is hers but that's all we have of her."

"But that doesn't make any se- -" Hotch's words choke off. "Son of a bitch…she's a gift for the father."

Rossi's eyes get wide. "The early kills included women. The men are Junior's preference. The father likes both but must have to settle for men only since the son is the one hunting now."

"Exactly. And now Emily is being served up to Daddy if we don't get there soon."

Already doing 80, Hotch pushes the accelerator down even farther. Rossi normally hates driving this fast. Now he feels like they are crawling along.

* * *

For a very different reason, it feels like forever before the van carrying Emily comes to a stop. It is about 5 minutes before she hears the back doors open and the ramp being lowered. Her crate is pulled out and onto the ground. She is covered with sweat and starting to worry she'll pass out from heat stroke and not have a chance to try to save herself.

"I have a special surprise for you, Dad," Nolan Temple, Jr. says.

"Another fucking shit to eat. Big damn deal," an older man grouses.

Nolan chuckles as he undoes the latches on the crate. "Let's just say, when next you eat, you eat like a king."

Emily's eyes are blinded even by the dusk light. She hears a happy inhalation.

"Oh, Junior!"

Hands reach under Emily's arms and lift her up. She groans as cramped muscles are suddenly stretched out.

"Oh, Junior! She looks…delicious!"

Emily feels a hand squeezing her thighs. She tries to pull away but is still too cramped to move.

"A little too much muscle. We'll need to restrain her a few days to loosen that up."

Emily cheers in her head. A few days means her team will find her.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but we can't. There's a good chance they know about this place. We need to harvest her as quickly as possible."

"NO! Damn it, Junior, haven't I told you that it takes time and attention to detail to get it right!"

"That's fine with editing, Dad, but not when the Feds are on our trail. I'll kill her, you can take her thighs, and then we'll leave her here for the predators. Same with that fuck in the cell right now."

"NO! One day won't make a difference! We wait one day!"

Emily gradually opens her eyes. She is shocked to see the elder Nolan Temple in a motorized wheelchair. Junior drops her to the ground and squats beside his father.

"Dad, even waiting one day means giving them a chance to catch us. We need to leave soon. Let me just kill her and- -"

"NO!"

The younger man sighs. "Fine. I won't kill her. But she needs to come with us. We need to leave tonight. Let me deal with Binky and stick her in the cage. Once he's harvested I can get us packed up and out of here, okay?"

"Yes," the older man nods, his eyes studying Emily. "Yes, okay. And maybe…maybe we can take more than her thighs. You let me eat so few women I want as much of her as I can get."

Nolan nods. "Fine. When we finally harvest her we'll take anything you want. I promise."

Emily shivers as the man licks his lips. Most men would be thinking about sex, rape, torture. This man truly looks at her like a piece of meat to be cooked and savored. At the moment she has a hard time figuring out which is worse.

Nolan grabs his prisoner and drags her to her feet. He shoves her towards a shed out behind the small cabin. Her legs are stiff and until her hands are free Emily knows she can't try anything.

In the shed, she sees a man curled up inside a cage used for large dogs. Nolan slams his hand down onto the cage.

"GET UP! Get out of there, Binky. Time for you to fulfill your purpose."

Binky slowly uncurls and crawls out the door when it is opened. He looks at Emily.

"Who her?"

"She's the one that sent the bad men after Stan."

Emily's eyes widen at the lie. Binky goes from mild-mannered and scared to furious in the blink of an eye. He leaps towards Emily.

"NO! YOU HURTED MY HEAD AND KILLED STAN! YOU BITCH!"

Nolan shoves Emily down and grabs the man.

"Easy, Binky! Easy! I have brought her here to pay for her sins. Trust me, okay?"

Binky slowly looks at the man. "You gives me a job?"

"Yes, I'll give you a job. But you can't hurt her, okay? That's part of the deal."

Binky nods. "I not hurt her. Yet."

"Good boy. Help me get her in the cage."

Emily shakes her head, trying to will Binky to understand, to see she is a friend not a foe. But Binky believes Nolan.

_"How the fuck do you believe a man who has you sleeping in a cage? Son of a bitch_," Emily thinks.

Once she is locked in the cage, Nolan smiles at her. "Now the real fun begins."

He steps behind Binky, who is glaring down at her. Emily sees the knife come out. She fights to get her mouth open, to scream a warning. But in one swift move the knife is up and sliced across Binky's throat. Blood spurts all over the trapped agent as the man falls to the ground, gagging out his last few breaths of life. Nolan smiles at Emily.

"You're lucky. Most don't know what to expect. You'll get to bare witness to it all."

Whistling his happy tune, Nolan gets Binky hung up, cleaned up and starts the process to remove his thighs. When he is done, he smiles at Emily.

"No need to remove the head this time. We'll just leave him for the snakes and other predators as is. Time to get packed for our trip. If all goes well, you'll die up north somewhere. Won't that be nice?" he taunts as he leaves the shed.

As soon as she had been put in the cage, Emily had stretched out as much as possible to try to ease the cramps from traveling in the crate. She then starts feeling around the edges until she finds what she needs: one little sharp edge. No way was she going to sit around and wait to get trussed up like Binky. No. Fucking. Way.

* * *

Hotch and Rossi had made record time to a small area off of Route 29 and I-75 that Lee had told them about. They meet up with the detective, those left of the task force, and a SWAT team. Thanks to Garcia, they all have very detailed aerial views of the small cabin on the property and the shed out behind it.

"Everyone has been briefed," Hotch asks Lee as he puts on his FBI emblazoned Kevlar vest.

"Yes," Lee reports. "Your analyst also called me to say she was able to get a frame showing a van driving up the private road to the property. Unfortunately there is a lot of tree cover and we have no idea what we're looking at terrain-wise."

"But we know what we're looking at time-wise. They will kill her soon and plan to move on. That will not happen." He looks to the SWAT commander. "You know your men, you can guess the terrain. Make the teams."

The SWAT commander nods, glad this Fed isn't going to try to take over in an area he is unfamiliar with.

* * *

After hours of flying and one layover, JJ and Reid get to L.A. JJ pulls out her phone and tries both of Emily's lines. On the second phone, the personal one, she leaves a message.

"Hey, baby. Spence and I made it to L.A. Thanks to the time change, we're going straight to the editing house. If we can meet with who we need to there we can then go to the police station and check the cold case files. We're hoping to be flying back east tomorrow so we can be there for the take down. I guess I'll talk to you later. Love you, Em."

JJ and Reid go out to catch the shuttle to the rental car lot. Both hate that they didn't reach anyone in Miami.

"You don't think they are moving on the bastard and we're missing all the fun, do you?" Reid asks.

JJ rubs her baby bump. "I'd be missing it anyway but for your sake I hope not. I know you love kicking down doors and manhandling unsubs. Oh wait…that's Morgan."

Reid rolls his eyes. "Ha. Ha," he says dryly.

Soon the two agents, oblivious to what is going on in the swamps of Florida, are on their way to the editing house that had once employed both Nolan Temple's.

* * *

It takes a little twisting but Emily is able to get her taped hands up to the metal shard. As she cuts at the duct tape she thinks about the days when she'd keep a razor blade or two in her pant seams. Maybe she should think about doing that again.

Finally she is able to rip her hands apart. She works two fingers out of the side door of the cage and opens the bottom latch. She listens a moment, hating the noise it had made as it slid back. After a couple of seconds, she lifts her hand and slides back the top latch. She crawls out of the cage and stands, stretching her legs, arms and back.

She carefully starts to pull the tape from her mouth as she moves to Temple's tool bench. She grabs a hammer, a screwdriver and an exacto knife. No, none of them were her Sig Sauer but they would do in a pinch. She eases to the door of the building and glances out. She sees no movement outside which means they must still be packing up inside.

"A phone, Prentiss. You need to get to a phone." She goes to the back of the shed and climbs out the window that faces away from the house. As she starts to move into the woods she suddenly flashes back to the large…make that ginormous snake she and Rossi encountered. She looks at the hammer in her hand and pictures where she would have to be to use it. "Too fucking close. I'll throw it and run if I have to," she decides.

That decided she moves off into the woods to try to circle around the house and see if there is a way to get to a phone before they know she is free. If not, she'd have to try to get out via the driveway. But since she has no idea where she is and the sun was almost down it would be risky at best to leave the immediate area.

When she is parallel to the front door, it suddenly opens. Emily drops down to make sure she is concealed as she watches Junior put two suitcases in the van then goes back inside. She walks on some more but can't figure out a way to approach the house without being seen. As she gets around to the front again she sees Junior rolling out a large cooler to the van.

"_Taking the evidence with you, Nolan. Good boy. We'll fry you for all those men_," she thinks spitefully.

As she watches, Nolan Senior wheels out onto the front porch. "Why can't we eat before we leave? I hate eating on the road."

Junior drops his chin to his chest, very obviously frustrated. "I told you, Dad. She's a Fed. If they find this place they'll storm it. We need to leave ASAP. It's bad enough you want to keep her alive."

Senior thinks a second. "You really think it's bad to keep her alive?"

Junior nods. "Yes, Dad, I do."

Senior sighs. "I guess even muscley she'll taste divine since it's been so long. Let's go out and get her done."

Emily's shakes her head. She was damn lucky she'd gotten out when she had.

Junior smiles. "Thanks, Dad. And look, I promise to try to hunt a woman or two for you in the future. I promise."

Senior drives his electric chair down the ramp. Junior waits for him and together they head out to the shed.

Emily surveys the scene. Soon she would be blocked by the van. If she could get to the house and inside before Junior gets back out of the shed she could call for help. They would never expect her to go into the house.

As soon as they are beyond the van, she stealthily leaves the woods and runs to the corner of the house. She eases along the wall until she can see their backs. As soon as they enter the shed she sprints towards the front door, jumping up the three steps and racing into the house. She has just ducked around the corner into the living room when she hears the shouting. Looking around she sees a door that she hopes is a closet and quickly conceals herself inside of it.

"SHE HAS TO BE GOING FOR THE ROAD! I'LL STOP HER! I WILL!" Junior screams as he runs into the house.

Emily hears the jangling of keys and footsteps running back out. A second later the van starts up and she hears it driving quickly away. Just as she is about to come out of the closet, she hears the soft whir of the wheelchair motor. It stops in the living room. She pictures the room in her head and knows he is probably sitting staring out the front window. She eases open the door enough to see she is right.

She opens the door more and steps out quickly and quietly. Before Senior even knows she is there, she leans down and disconnects the battery to his chair.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL? WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

"I'm SSA Emily Prentiss. And I'll be calling the FBI and FDLE to come take you and your son's sick asses to jail."

* * *

Meanwhile, Nolan Temple, Jr. had driven his van down his driveway and into his worst nightmare. As he pulls out onto the road he cuts off an SUV driven by Hotch. The chief lifts his mic.

"IT'S HIM! STOP HIM!"

Four FDLE vehicles quickly corral the van, forcing it to stop. Cops and agents get out, training their guns on the van.

"NOLAN TEMPLE! TURN OFF THE VAN AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" Hotch orders, ignoring the phone vibrating on his hip.

Nolan studies the scene around him. He can't drive away. He can't run. He has no way to get away. He glances over his shoulder at the cooler in the back of his van. He'd never even had time to season Binky.

He gets out of the drivers seat and moves to the cooler. Outside Hotch lifts his mic.

"Can anyone see the suspect?" No one answers. Shit. He lifts his mic again. "Consider him armed and dangerous. Repeat he is armed and dangerous."

A few minutes later the back door opens. Agents and cops tense, their guns trained on the man stepping out of the darkness. Everyone winces as a smiling Nolan Temple climbs out, his face and raised hands smeared with the blood of his final human meal. As SWAT team members take him down and check the vehicle for Emily, Hotch finally answers his phone.

"Hotchner."

"Hotch, it's Emily."

"Prentiss! Where the hell are you?"

"A little cabin in the woods with Nolan Temple, Sr. He's a little upset I won't be his next meal. His son tore out of here looking for me."

"We have him. We're at the end of the driveway. We'll see you in a few minutes." He and Rossi get in the SUV and start the drive up to the cabin.

"Good. Oh, and…we'll need the coroner. He killed Binky right in front of me, Hotch. Right in fucking front of me." She pauses. "Uh…do I want to know…I mean is…Hotch…how is…"

"Morgan is fine. Severe concussion, a few stitches needed but fine."

"Thank God. Uh, does Jen know?"

"Oh, hell no. It's up to you to tell her you couldn't keep your ass out of trouble."

Emily chuckles. "Gee. Thanks, Bossman." Emily steps out onto the porch as Hotch pulls in. Behind her, Senior is screaming about police abuse. "Shut. Up. It's your right to remain silent. Use it."

Hotch and Rossi study her as they walk up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Back is a bit sore, ears are splitting from listening to Senior," she gestures over her shoulder. "But other that I am fine. Are…you sure about Morgan? Really?"

Hotch walks up the steps and looks into her eyes. "I am. He's just fine. I am sure by now he's feeling up the nurses."

Emily smiles. "Yeah, sounds about right."

"I AM GOING TO SUE!" is bellowed from the house.

"He cuffed?" Rossi asks.

Emily chuckles. "Better."

She leads them in. Hotch and Rossi can't help but smile as the man is fighting to get his electric wheelchair to move.

"I tore out the battery leads. He's stuck until he can be searched, cuffed and stuffed in a police cruiser."

The man levels a glare at Emily. "My son should have gutted you as soon as he got you here. I'd be feasting on your liver right now."

"Aw, you say the sweetest things," Emily says, batting her eyelashes at the man.

Hotch and Rossi laugh. Hotch hands her the keys to the SUV. "S.O.P. is you get checked out. May as well do it the same place Morgan's resting. We can hitch a ride back with the locals."

Emily smiles and nods. "Thanks, Hotch. Oh, uh, can I borrow a phone? Still haven't gotten my work one back and my personal is in the other SUV."

Rossi pulls his out and tosses it to her. "Just don't call the ladies on there and tell tales."

Emily grins. "Aw, Rossi, you take my fun away."

Emily hurries out of the house and quickly drives back to Miami. Maybe she shouldn't have used lights and sirens but, well, she needed to see her best friend.


	16. Chapter 16

Reid is reading a medical report and sits up. "Holy shit! We might be able to get DNA from this one if it was stored properly and hasn't degraded."

JJ looks up with excitement. "What case?"

"A murder and excision in 1991. There was blood not the same type as the victims found in the wound. One of the unsubs may have cut himself."

"Order it up and let's cross our fingers," JJ says as she reaches for yet another potentially linked murder.

For 4 hours they had gone over records of cold cases that included excised pieces of flesh. Some they had eliminated due to the small amount taken. Sadly, a larger stack have been set aside as most likely the works of one or both of the Temple's.

A little while later they set down the last folder. "83 cases could be theirs," JJ notes.

"Most likely it will be only be about 55% of those, give or take. Plus there could be others out there."

"And is that really that much better?" JJ challenges.

Reid sighs. "No, it's not. Because that still leaves a lot unsolved."

"Yeah." JJ rubs her eyes. "So I vote we go to the hotel, get some sleep, then meet with the locals in the morning. I need to check on Emily."

"You don't think she's really okay?"

"I think physically she is but mentally she's a bit hurt by this one. Not saving Stan and Binky. Morgan getting hurt. Whitten dying. Hell, Reid, I just got her back mentally. I'm…scared."

Reid slowly nods. "Yeah, those are some pretty bad hits. Tell her if she needs to talk and doesn't want the nesters to hear she can call me."

JJ grins. "I'll tell her." She stands and stretches. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

* * *

Morgan slowly opens his eyes. His headache is now down to a dull throb and the dimmed lighting no longer feels like he's looking into the sun. As he stretches his neck he registers someone is holding his hand. He looks down and sees Emily holding his hand, her head on the bed as she dozes. He gives her hand a squeeze.

"Hey," he croaks.

Emily quickly sits up. "Derek?"

"Hey, Princess. I think the bad guy is hiding in the room with all the TV's."

Emily grins. "Day late and a dollar short, buddy."

"Better late than never," he says with a grin.

Emily stands and moves to the side table, pouring him a cup of water. "Thirsty?"

He nods and takes the cup. "It over?"

Emily nods. "Yeah. Rossi and Hotch are interviewing both Temple's. Jen and Reid have found a bunch of potential victims. They are meeting with the LA detectives in the morning and flying back here with them to see if they can get either man to admit to the killings or uncover new evidence that could lead them to other victims."

"It's bad, isn't it?"

Emily nods. "Very bad. He's been teaching his son to kill and eat humans since he was a kid. Senior is now in a wheelchair. Parkinson's."

"I am so sorry I put you in their hands."

"You didn't. I had a choice, Morgan. I had to try to save you and Binky."

"Try to?"

Emily sighs and nods. "Fucker killed him right in front of me. According to Hotch he then ate half a thigh raw before surrendering to the police."

"That's even more gross than we thought. Are all movie people nuts?"

"Actors are. I guess editors, too," Emily says with a smile.

Morgan chuckles. "So, what about you? How's your mind?"

"Took a hit but then I figured out what to do to heal it. I'll be fine."

"Dare I ask how?"

Emily considers it a second. "Two men died homeless, their families who knows where. They will get a proper burial under the names we know. If we ever find out who they really were their family will know they had respect in death not a pauper's grave."

Morgan reaches over and takes his best friends hand. "Nicely done, Emily."

"Thanks, Derek."

"Emily, go back to the hotel and sleep. No need for you to break your back sleeping in that chair."

"I reserved the other bed in this room. Told the nurses about your rep and they are glad to have the protection."

Morgan busts out laughing. "Gee, thanks, buddy."

Emily grins and pats his arm. "Any time."

* * *

When they get to the hotel, Reid notices JJ rolling her ankle as they ride the elevator.

"You okay?"

"Ankles are swollen. All that flying is bad for them. Guess I need to lay down with them up for a while."

"Actually, you need a massage. Stimulating the circulation will help the swelling go down and help prevent nerve damage."

JJ studies him a moment. "Emily told you to take care of me, didn't she."

Reid blushes. "Threatened to pummel me if I didn't."

JJ laughs and shakes her head. "I should have guessed. Thanks, Spence."

They split up at JJ's room. After kicking off her shoes (and moaning at how much better her feet felt immediately) she gets ready for bed before going to the adjoining door. She unlocks to see Reid is already waiting for her.

She sits down on the bed and he kneels at the end and starts to massage her ankles and feet.

"Perfect, Spence. You read a book, didn't you?"

Reid grins. "Yep. Cindy liked to have foot massages so I read up on pressure points and such."

"Good. If the 'such' includes erogenous zones avoid those. Please."

He laughs. "Already part of the plan." He works in silence a moment. "Call her if you're still worried about her."

"No, she's staying at the hospital with Morgan tonight. They both need their rest." Her voice chokes off at the end.

"Jayje, after all you read today, all you saw, they would both understand if you called her."

JJ just shakes her head, trying to erase the thought of Emily being in one of the crime scene photos she looked at today. Finally she can't stop the sob.

"So close, Spence. Too fucking close."

Reid abandons her feet and crawls up on the bed with her. He pulls her into a hug and, much like Morgan had done for Emily, just holds her and wills the fear to go away.

* * *

It is 2:36 in the morning and a snide looking lawyer is shaking his head. "My client is in a wheelchair. Has been for 4 years; his doctors will testify to that. You have nothing."

Hotch had been waiting for this challenge. "Perhaps not here in Miami." He hands over a folder. "But here's the extradition request from Los Angeles. Seems like your client left a trail of bodies going back 4 decades." He turns to Nolan Temple, Sr. "A search warrant was executed on a storage unit in your name. We found it all, Mr. Temple. Your trophies, your recipes, your clippings. If Miami doesn't want you, L.A. will."

Nolan Temple, Sr. for the first time shows emotion: fury. "You had no right." He says softly. When Hotch doesn't respond he yells at him. "YOU HAD NO RIGHT! THOSE WERE MINE!"

"Glad you admitted that," Hotch says, having hoped to trap the man to admitting to owning the unit. "That helps to shore up their case against you." He stands. "This interview is over."

"Wait!" the lawyer says. "Surely there's a deal to be made! My client is in a wheelchair, for God's sake!"

"And his victims are in the ground. You'll excuse me if I have no sympathy for him."

Hotch storms out, ignoring the screams from Nolan Temple, Sr. Parkinson's had taken his legs. Hotch and the police will be taking the rest of his life. Hotch finds Rossi in the hallway.

"How'd it go with Junior?"

"His lawyer won't let him talk."

"Fine. Let's go to the hotel and get some sleep. They can rot all night here for all I care."

* * *

At 2 p.m. Eastern the next day JJ and Reid step off an airplane at Miami International. The L.A. cops as well as an ADA would be flying out later after they get all their ducks in a row. They want both Temples but will settle for just the father if it looks like Florida will make sure the son pays dearly, too.

As they walk towards the pick up area they see a dark-haired figure holding up a sign just like several other drives have.

"Oh, she thinks she's so funny," Reid mutters.

Emily grins when she sees they have noticed the sign: Reed-Jurow.

"So not funny, Prentiss," JJ says as they get close.

"I felt weird not having a sign. Needed to make sure you knew I was here for you," she says with a grin.

"Yeah, right," Reid states as they walk out to the waiting SUV.

Yes, it's waiting right outside. It's good to have a badge!

As they drive, Emily fills them in on what's happening.

"Suddenly both men want to talk. Junior's lawyers are already making a case for diminished capacity, saying a type of Stockholm Syndrome drove him to commit the murders. Hotch and Rossi are back at the precinct to help get things squared away. Reid, they'd like you to go help them since you know the L.A. cases."

"Hey! I know them, too," JJ insists indignantly.

"I know you do, Jen. But they also know you'll want to make sure I really am okay after my two little scares."

JJ smiles. "Yeah, I guess that's true."

"And I never finished your massage last night," Reid says. "Maybe Emily can finish it."

Emily had stopped walking. She slowly turns and pins Reid with a glare. "You gave my wife a massage?"

Reid's eyes widen. "Just her feet! I swear! Then she got upset and I held her and we fell asleep so I never finished it."

"So you massaged her feet, and I know you know the erogenous zones, then you slept with her. Tell me how knowing this doesn't get you killed."

"I…I…I…"

JJ smacks her wife's arm. "She's kidding, Spence. She knows what happened last night. It's all good."

Emily turns to her wife. "Must you always steal my fun, woman?"

JJ grins. "Yes, when I think Spence might need to borrow one of Henry's pull-ups to get through your joke."

"I hate you sometimes," Reid mutters as he climbs into the backseat.

Emily leans in and kisses his cheek. "Thank you for taking care of her, Reid. I really do appreciate it."

* * *

When the two women finally get to the hotel, JJ drops her bag and stares at her wife. "Okay, strip."

Emily grins, her eyes darkening with desire. "Feeling needy, baby?"

"Nope. Need to see for myself you are okay. Now strip so I can check for any new bumps and bruises."

Emily chuckles and complies with the order. JJ slowly circles her wife.

"Shoulder blade?"

"Gresky pushing me into the wall," Emily explains. "Doesn't hurt. Promise."

"Forehead?"

"Just an abrasion. Supposedly I did more damage to the wall than it did to me."

JJ laughs. "Sadly, I can believe that." JJ steps to her wife and pulls her close. "I'm so glad you're okay, Em. Our babies, all 4 of our babies, need you." She gives her a kiss. "I need you, too."

The two start to kiss. Emily begins to work JJ's clothes off when her personal phone rings. With a groan she steps away and answers it.

"Prentiss." She listens a minute nodding. "That's fine. Go ahead and do it. Thanks." She hangs up. "Now, where were we?"

"Who was that?" JJ asks.

"Just…a guy about…stuff. Forget it, Jen. Please."

"Emily…" JJ says in the tone that says she is not planning to forget it without an explanation.

Emily sighs and sits down on the bed. "I'm paying for a proper funeral for Stan and Binky. Headstones, too."

JJ frames her wife's face in her hands. "Why are you acting like that is something to be ashamed of, Em? I happen to think it's a beautiful thing you are doing."

"Yeah? You don't think it's impractical? Because I do. Sort of."

JJ gives her wife a kiss on the forehead. "Not impractical, baby. It's the right thing to do. And I am so proud of you for doing it." She gives her a deep kiss. "Make love to me, Emily. Let me show you how proud of you I am."

Still sitting, Emily finishes undressing her wife. "I love you, Jennifer Prentiss."

"I love you, too, Emily Prentiss."

As Emily removes her wife's shirt she leans forward and kisses the baby bump. "And I love you two nesters so very, very much, too. I can't wait to meet you."

Soon JJ is naked and pushing Emily to lie back on the bed. JJ crawls on top and gives her a deep, passionate kiss. Their hands roam each other's bodies, driving up their desire. JJ finally breaks the kiss.

"No one but me gets to eat you, Emily Prentiss."

Emily grins as her clit starts to throb harder. "Twisted, Jennifer Prentiss."

JJ just smiles and slides down her wife's body, kissing, licking, nipping all the sensitive areas until she settled between her wife's legs

"So ready for me."

"Yes…always for you," Emily agrees.

JJ draws her tongue up the hot, wet center of her wife.

"OH JEN!"

JJ swirls her tongue, then flattens it and presses against the hard clit. Emily's hips thrust. JJ licks the luscious folds once more then shoves her tongue deep into her wife's body.

"OH! OH! Oh, yes!"

Emily grabs JJ by the head, needing more. JJ complies. She shoves two fingers into her wife as her mouth sucks the throbbing jewel in deep.

"UNGH! Oh, fuck! Oh, yes, Jen!"

JJ drives her wife up, up, up, and finally over the edge into a screaming orgasm. JJ crawls up her wife's body, kissing a reverse path back up to Emily's mouth.

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Emily."

Emily strokes a hand down JJ's cheek. "Sure you do, Jen. You would mourn me then go on. You would live your life for our children, Jennifer. Promise me."

JJ bites her lip. "How about you just promise to always come home to us?"

Emily smiles. "I think I like that idea best."

She rolls, putting JJ below her. Now it was time for Emily to shower her wife with love and affection. And so she does.


	17. Chapter 17

Morgan is not going to be cleared to fly until the next day. After their jaunts across the country and back, JJ and Reid are more than happy to stay one more night in Miami. With the case now fully in the hands of the locals and the L.A. police, the team decides to find a nice restaurant with a private room so they can relax and have fun together.

Emily lifts her glass of wine. "Uh, can I just offer a quick toast? To Stan and Binky: life may have put you on the streets but you never lost your humanity."

Everyone lifts their glass. Morgan and JJ are sharing a bottle of sparkling cider but the rest are enjoying the wine.

"Here, here," Rossi agrees as everyone nods.

Soon the wait staff is bringing out a selection of appetizers and various meals for everyone to share. In deference to her hormones, nothing is a simple steak dish so JJ does not get sick. The team laughs, talks, teases, and not once do they mention murder, mayhem, and especially not cannibals.

When their meal ends over 2 hours later, they go for a walk along the happening South Beach stretch, people watching and deciding what kind of crime each one they see would be guilty of. Twisted, but fun.

They end the night on the beach, walking barefoot in surf line. Well, JJ wasn't that close. She was sure sharks could climb up on the beach and get them. Morgan and Reid get into a water fight to no one's surprise. They are surprised when Hotch and Rossi decide to end it…by bulldogging the two younger agents to the ground as a wave rolls in, soaking them head to toe.

It was as perfect a night as it could be for them all.

* * *

The next day as they disembark the jet, Emily looks at Morgan. "You sure you don't want to stay with us? At least until the headache goes away?"

He shakes his head carefully. "No, Em, really. I'm okay. Go home and enjoy your weekend with your kids and your wife."

Emily smiles. "Morgan, you being there would enhance it, not diminish it. I swear."

He gives her a hug. "Thanks, Princess. But I'm fine. Promise."

"Okay. Call if you need anything."

"I will." He gives JJ a hug next. "And thanks for not delaying our return by beating that ass Gresky into a pulp."

JJ blushes as Emily turns to her. "Excuse me?"

JJ sighs and glares at Morgan. "Thanks, Derek."

"Uh, sorry. Didn't know. See you!" he says as he hurries off.

JJ slowly lets out a breath and turns to face her wife. "When we picked up our stuff this morning I sort of ran into Gresky."

* * *

_JJ has just stepped out of the bathroom when she sees Gresky walking her way with a sports bag, most likely with his belongings in them since he's suspended. JJ's temper, fueled by her hormones, flares. She marches towards him. He sees her and actually looks terrified by the look in her eye. His eyes flick to her hip, thankful he doesn't see a gun._

"_Uh, Agent Jareau, I, um, owe you an apology. I- -"_

_She grabs him by the collar and drags him into an empty office, shutting the door behind them._

_"You don't speak until I tell you to," she warns him. "First of all, Agent Prentiss and I are married. I am carrying her children. _**Our**_ children. Dr. Reid is like a brother to me. Understood?"_

_He nods. "Yes, ma'am."_

_"Good. Second of all," she steps closer, backing him up against a wall, "if you ever, EVER raise a hand to her or any woman ever again I will hunt you down and remove you from the gene pool. And in case you're wondering, no, I won't kill you but you will need a special medical device to pee. Got it?"_

_He nods vigorously. "I get it. I swear. I am getting help. I swear."_

_"See that you do. I'll be checking up on you."_

_She turns and walks out of the room. Morgan notices her and is confused about why she was in that office. Then he sees Gresky walk out. The man is noticeably pale. He raises an eyebrow and goes to intercept JJ._

_"Jayje? You okay? He try something?"_

_"Nope. Just had to let him know what will happen if he ever raises a hand to Emily again."_

_Morgan looks from her to Gresky and back again. He starts to chuckle. "Does this mean I don't get to beat him to a pulp on your behalf?"_

_"Fraid not. He's dealt with."_

_Morgan looks at the nervous man high-tailing it out of the station and starts to laugh. "Blondie, you are my hero."_

_JJ just grins and continues on the conference room to finish packing up to leave._

* * *

Emily studies her wife. "That's it? You just…threatened him? You didn't hit him? He didn't hit you?"

"Emily, considering who your mother is you should know that words can be more powerful than weapons sometimes," JJ points out.

Emily starts to chuckle. "Good point. I love you, Mrs. Prentiss."

"I love you, too. Let's head home."

Emily grabs her wife's go bag and carries it to the car for her. As she gets into the Lexus she glances at her wife, seeing her shift uncomfortably. "You okay?"

"Ankles are swollen again. It will be good to stay out of the air for a few days."

Emily pats JJ's thigh. "Yes, it will. Let's get you home and get your feet up. We can make the two cutest kids in the world wait on you hand and foot."

JJ grins. "Sounds perfect, Mama Prentiss."

"Glad you think so, Mommy Prentiss."

JJ lifts up Emily's hand and gives it a kiss. Soon they are home and the kids are indeed willing to wait on their mommy until she feels better. After all, Henry tells them:

"You gotta stay healthy for my brother."

Emily and JJ exchange a look. JJ takes his hand. "Now, Henry, remember we don't know yet if I'm having a boy."

"But I talked to God, Mommy. He giving me brother," Henry insists.

JJ sighs and pulls him into a hug. "I hope you're right, Henry. I think you would be great with a little brother."

"I right, Mommy. You see."

Emily smiles and lifts Rocky up. "So, do you want a sister, Rocky?"

"Cat!" Rocky insists.

JJ and Emily laugh. The blonde reaches for her daughter. "That, Rock Star, I can guarantee is NOT going to happen."

Since JJ is on the couch with her feet up, Henry runs into the playroom and gets a book. He brings it back.

"Read, Mommy?"

"Of course. Get up here." The two children get up and snuggle with their mommy. "Which fairy tale should we read today?" Rocky points to a picture on the cover and JJ smiles. "Cinderella it is."

Emily sits back in the recliner and watches the threesome on the couch. Yep, it was the best way to remind herself why she deals with the worst society has to offer. Someone somewhere has to make the world safer for Henry, Rocky, the nesters and all the little kids in the world.

And she is proud to be one of the ones doing so.


End file.
